What if?
by Asian95
Summary: How much can history change if someone finds out about something that hasn't happened yet? So what would happen if Aphrodite and Zoey's gang read a mysterious book called Hunted? Throw in accidental time travel by the gang and voila, total chaos. Takes place at the beginning of Betrayed.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: How much can history change if someone finds out about something that hasn't happened yet? So what would happen if Aphrodite and Zoey's gang read a mysterious book called Hunted? Takes place at the beginning of Betrayed. **

Set at the beginning of Betrayed.

"New kid. Check it out," Shaunee said as she slid into the big booth like bench we always claim as ours for every school meal served in the dining hall (translation: high-class school cafeteria). "Tragic, Twin, just tragic." Erin's voice totally echoed Shaunee's.

Suddenly I felt a strong wind, as if another force was pulling us, "Damien?" I called, hoping that it was the air-affinity-gifted- boy and not some bizarre evil spirit that'd come back to haunt me.

But he shook his head, "Not me,"

It was like being ripped from the chair and being carried into the air. Next thing I know I fell smack down on my butt.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!! What the hell are you dorks doing in **my** room?!" Oh crap...I'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Like we'd want to be in the same _country_ as you-" Shaunee began.

"-Hateful hag, I'd rather listen to Damien explain every word in the dictionary," Erin finished.

"Hey!"

"Shut up brain sharers- again, what. Are. You. Doing. In. My. Room?!" Aphrodite demanded, saying each word slowly and each time getting angrier.

"Look, I don't know. One second we were in the dining hall- next thing we knew, we're here," I said calmly.

"Get out," Aphrodite fumed pointing towards the door.

"Did you lock it or something?" Damien asked, he looked like he was struggling to try and get the door open.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, "Why would I lock the door?"

But even she couldn't budge it.

"Ahem...You were saying?" Shaunee said raising her eyebrows.

"Look, would ya'll calm down for a minute!" Stevie Rae interrupted.

"Ok, I have no idea what's-

I felt something hit my head and everything went black.

* * *

"Zoey?? Zoooooey??"

"Huh, what?" I blinked; right...we were still in Aphrodite's room. Argh...my head hurts...

"Zoey? You ok?"

"Yeah, fine...my head is killing me," I replied rubbing the top of my head.

"This book fell on you," Erin said holding a hard cover book.

"I didn't know you kept books on the ceiling," I spoke to Aphrodite.

"I don't," She replied sourly.

"What is it?"

"It's called Hunted- what's more, it's got this note attached to it," Damien said, and then he unfolded the note and began reading it out loud.

"_This book is your future- in a few months. You will not be able to leave this room until you've completed reading the book. The reasons for doing this will be revealed to you __**after **__you've read it," _

"Ok...that's weird..." I mumbled, ah hell, what it is now?????

"Future???" Stevie Rae said blankly.

"Great, I'm locked in my own room with the nerd herd and now we're being forced to read this stupid book that supposed to be about the future..." Aphrodite grumbled.

"Well, is we can't get out unless we read this book, then the logical thing to do- is read it," Damien said.

"You read it, Queen Damien-" Shaunee said.

"-reading isn't our thing," Erin finished.

"I'll read it," I said taking the book from Shaunee, I mean come on- it's just a book, how bad can it be?

* * *

I don't own House of Night.

Review, do you like it? Or is it plain cliche?


	2. Chapter 2

Chap 2

I don't own H.O.N

Enjoy and Review!! :)

* * *

"Alright, just get it over and done with already," Aphrodite said with her 'whatever' attitude.

Shaunee and Erin glared at her; I opened the book and began reading.

**Chapter 1**

**The dream began with the sound of wings. In retrospect I realized it should have known that was a bad sign, what with the Raven Mockers being set loose and all, but in my dream it was just a background noise, kindda like a fan whirring or the TV being turned on to the QVC.**

"Ok, whose point of view is this in?" Aphrodite asked, "And what is a Raven Mocker?"

We all turned to Damien, "Don't look at me; I don't know,"

"Wow, Queen Damien actually doesn't know what a word means," Shaunee said.

"It's not a word, it seems like it may be a creature," Damien defended.

I quickly continued reading in hopes it'll stop the oncoming argument I'm sensing.

**In my dream I was standing in the middle of a beautiful meadow. It was night, but there was an enormous full moon hovering just above the trees that framed the meadow. It cast a silver blue light strong enough to throw shadows and make everything look like it was underwater, an impression that was strengthened by the gentle breeze blowing the soft grasses against my bare legs in sweeps and whirls-**

"Whoa, this person sure has a good imagination, eh twin?" Shaunee asked.

"Agreed twin, this is one cool dream- wish I was in it," Erin chimed in.

**-like waves lapping sweetly against a shore. The same wind was lifting my thick dark hair from my naked shoulders and it felt like silk floating against my skin.**

"Wait a minute, thick dark hair? So it has to be either Shaunee or Zoey, cause the rest of us don't have thick dark hair," Stevie Rae interrupted.

Ah crap, I didn't think of that...Please don't be in my point of view...please, please, please....

**Bare legs? Naked shoulders?**

This better not be me.....

**I looked down and let out a little yip of surprise. I was wearing a seriously short buckskin minidress. The top of it was cut it a wide V, front and back, so that it hung off my shoulders, leaving lots of visible skin. The dress itself was amazing. It was white and decorated with fringe, feathers and shells and seemed to glow in the moonlight. All over it was beaded with intricate designs that were impossibly beautiful. **

**My imagination was so darn cool!!**

"That however, is definitely not me," Shaunee said.

"What?! So it's me?!" I exclaimed.

"Ah, this might not be that bad- I get to see what's going on in that mind of yours," Aphrodite smirked.

I stuck my tongue out at her.

**The dress tickled in a memory, but I ignored it. I didn't want to think too hard- I was dreaming!**

Oh man...The more I read, the more it sounds like me...Ah hell!!

**Instead of pondering déjà vu moments I danced gracefully through the meadow, wondering if Zac Efron or even Johnny Depp was going to suddenly appear and flirt outrageously with me.**

"That sounds like Shaunee," Damien put in.

**I peeked around as I twirled and swayed with the wind and thought I saw a shadow flicker and move oddly within the massive trees. I stopped and was trying to squint so I could get a closer look at what was going on in the darkness. Knowing me and my weird dreams, I'd created bottles of brown pop hanging from limbs like bizarre fruit, just waiting for me to pick them.**

"Definitely Zoey," Stevie Rae said smiling.

"Ah hell,"

**That's when he appeared.**

**At the edge of the meadow, just inside the shadows of the trees, a shape materialized. I could see his body because the moonlight caught the smooth, naked lines of his skin.**

**Naked?**

**I stopped. Had my imagination lost its mind?!!**

The twins smirked.

**I wasn't really up to frolicking around a meadow with a naked guy, even if it was the amazingly mysterious Johnny Depp. **

"_**You hesitate my love?"**_

"Oohh...Who is it Zoey?" Erin laughed.

I groaned....I was not going to like this....

**At the sound of his voice a shiver passed through my body, and terrible mocking laughter whispered through the leaves of the trees. **

"**Who are you?" I was glad that my dream voice didn't betray the fear I was feeling.**

**His laughter was as deep and beautiful as his voice, and as frightening. It echoed in the limbs of the watching trees until it drifted almost visible to the air around me. **

"_**Do you pretend you do not know me?" **_

**His voice brushed against my body, making the little hairs on my arm stand up.**

"How does his voice brush against you?"

"Don't ask- it hasn't happened yet," I said, not liking where this is going.

"**Yeah, I know you. I made you up, this is **_**my **_**dream. You're a mixture of Zac and Johnny," I hesitated, peering at him. I spoke nonchalantly even though my heart was beating like crazy because it was obvious this guy was not a mixture of those two actors. "Well maybe you're Superman or Prince Charming," I said reaching out for anything but the truth. **

"Looks like this might turn into a night mare," Stevie Rae making a face.

"You're not making me feel any better," I groaned.

"_**I am no figment of your imagination. You know me. You're soul knows me," **_

"Ok, creepy," Erin said.

**I hadn't moved my feet, but my body was slowly being drawn towards him, like his voice was pulling me. I reached him and looked up and up.....**

**It was Kalona-**

"Another boyfriend of yours?" Aphrodite sneered.

"Shut up- hateful hag!"

**I'd ** **known him from the first words he'd spoken. I just hadn't wanted to admit it to myself, how could I have dreamed him?**

**Nightmare- this has to be a nightmare, not a dream. **

**His body was naked, but it wasn't completely substantial. His form wavered and shifted in time with the caressing breeze. Behind him, in the dark green shadows of trees, I could see the ghostly shapes of his children, the Raven Mockers, as they clung to the limbs with the hands and feet of men and stare at me with men's eyes from mutated faces of birds-**

"-Ok, one word for that, disgusting," Aphrodite cut in, this time no body disagreed with her.

"_**Do you still claim not to know me?" **_

**He's eyes were dark- a starless sky. They seemed to be the most substantial thing about him. That and his liquid voice. **_**Even though this is a nightmare, it's still mine. I can just wake up! I want to wake up! I want to wake up!**_

**But I didn't. I couldn't. I wasn't in control. Kalona was. He built this dream, this dark nightmare meadow, and somehow brought me there, closing the door to reality behind us.**

"**What do you want?" I said the words quickly so he couldn't hear my voice shaking.**

"_**You know what I want, my love, I want you," **_

"Um...So he's just another weird guy that's obsessed with you?"

"I don't think so- for one he's children are described as half bird- half man, and Zoey seems to be afraid of him," Damien said.

"Hey- you guys don't even know for sure it's me," I said somewhat desperately.

"Brown pop growing from trees? That's definitely you, Zo,"  
Unfortunately I couldn't disagree with that.

"**I am **_**not **_**your love," **

"_**Of course you are," **_**He moved** **this time, stepping so close to me that I could feel the chill that came from his unsubstantial body, **_**"My A-ya," **_

**A-ya had been the name of the maiden the Cherokee Wise Women had created** **to trap him centuries ago. Panic spiked through me, "I'm not A-ya!!" **

"_**You command the elements," **_**His voice was a caress, awful and wonderful. Compelling and terrifying. **

"Anybody else confused?" Erin asked.

"You, me, everybody," Shaunee replied.

"**Gifts from my goddess," I said.**

"_**Once before you commanded the elements. You were made from them. Fashioned to love me," **_**His massive dark wings stirred and lifted. Beating forward softly, they enfolded me in a spectral embrace that was cold as frost.**

"**No! You must have me mixed up with someone else! I'm not A-ya!" **

"_**You're wrong my love, I feel her within you," **_

**His wings pressed against my body, drawing me closer to him. Even though his physical form was only semi-substantial, I could feel him. His wings were soft. Winter cold against the warmth of my dreaming self. The outline of his body was frigid mist. It burned my skin, sending electric currents through me, heating me with a desire I didn't want to feel but was powerless to resist. **

**He's laugh was seductive. I wanted to drown in it. I leaned forward, closing my eyes and gasping aloud as the chill of his spirit brushed against my breasts, sending shooting sensations that were painful but-**

"Ok, I can't read this anymore- somebody else read," I said slamming the book shut.

"Here, I'll read it- can't be that bad," Stevie Rae said taking the book from my hands.

"Where are we up to...." She muttered as she flicked through the pages, "Ah here!"

**-painful but deliciously erotic to places in my body that made me feel out of control.**

I felt my face go red....this can't be happening!!

"_**You like the pain. It brings you pleasure," **_**His wings got more insistent, his body harder and colder and more passionately painful as it pressed against mine. **_**"Surrender to me," **_**His voice, already beautiful, was unimaginably seductive as he became aroused, **_**"I spent centuries in your arms. This time our joining will be controlled by me, and you will revel in the pleasure I bring you. Through off your distant goddess and come to me. Be my love, truly, in body as well as soul and I will give you the world!"**_

I thought I heard Aphrodite mutter something.

"Did you say something?"

"No," She replied quickly, a little too quickly. I could've sworn I heard her say, 'Don't turn from Nyx'. Huh...Maybe she has changed.

**The meaning of his words penetrated through the haze of pain and pleasure like sunlight burning away dew. I found my will again, and stumbled out of the embrace of his wings. **

**Tendrils of icy black smoke snaked around my body, clinging....touching.....caressing....**

**I shook myself like a pissed cat shaking off rain and the dark wisps slid from my body. "No! I'm not your love. I'm not A-ya!! And I'll never turn my back on Nyx!!" **

"Nicely said girl," Shaunee said.

Erin laughed.

**When I spoke Nyx's name, the nightmare shattered. **

**I sat straight up in bed, shaking and gasping. Stevie Rae was sleeping soundly beside me, but Nala was wide awake. **

"Wait a minute, I know we're roomies and all, but since when did we share a bed?" Stevie Rae asked looking at me.

I shrugged, "How am I supposed to know?"

**-but Nala was wide awake. She was growling softly. Her back arched, her body was totally puffed up, and she was staring slit-eyed at the air above me. **

"**Ah hell!!" I shrieked and bounded off the bed, spinning around and looking up, expecting to see Kalona hovering like a giant bat-bird over us. **

**Nothing. There was nothing there. **

**I grabbed Nala and sat on the bed. With trembling hands I petted her over and over, "It was just a bad dream....it was just a bad dream.....It was just a bad dream," I told her but I knew it was a lie. **

**Kalona was real, and somehow he was able to reach me through my dreams. **

"Well that was cheerful start," Aphrodite said sarcastically.

* * *

Enjoy? Review? And I wonder how I'm going to do Aphrodite and Stevie Rae's expression when they find out that they imprint.


	3. Chapter 3

Chap 3

Hey guys, in about a week I'm gonna be back in Australia!! Which means I have can update my fics more often!!

I do not own H.O.N

Enjoy and Review!! :)

* * *

"Guess I'll finish reading this chapter," Stevie Rae shrugged.

I hope it isn't as embarrassing as the last one...but knowing my luck, it probably would get worse...

**Chapter 2**

_**Okay, so Kalona can get into your dreams, but you're awake now so pull yourself together! **_**I told myself sternly as I petted Nala and let my cat's familiar purr soothe me. Stevie Rae stirred in her sleep and murmured something I couldn't hear. Then, still sleeping, she smiled and sighed. I looked down at her, glad that she was having better luck with her dreams.**

"Hmmm...Wonder watcha dreaming about, Stevie Rae," Shaunee said, then she and Erin dissolved into twin giggles.

I saw Stevie Rae's cheeks flushed before she hurriedly continued reading.

**Gently I pulled back the blanket she'd curled up under and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw no blood seeping through the bandage that covered the terrible arrow wound that had pierced her.**

Several cries of, "What?!!" Rang into the air.

"I have a really bad feeling about this..." I said.

"Relax guys, it hasn't happened yet- maybe we could stop it from happening if we find out how," Stevie Rae said completely calm, though I could see that he was slightly shaken up.

**She stirred again. This time Stevie Rae's eyes fluttered open. She looked confused for a second, and then smiled sleepily at me.**

"**How are you feeling?" I asked.**

"**I'm ok," She said groggily, "Don't worry so much," **

"**It' hard not to worry when my best friend keeps dying," I said smiling back at her.**

"WHAT?!! Keeps dying?!!" I shrieked.

"Ok, this is completely illogical. How can someone keep dying???" Damien seemed to be thinking aloud rather than talking to us.

"If you want to know- just keep reading," Aphrodite said; the twins glared at her.

"**I didn't die this time. I just almost died," **

"Ok, this is too weird," I said.

"You're telling me? I'm reading it and it doesn't make sense," Stevie Rae said looking at the book.

"**My nerves are telling me to tell you there's no big difference in that 'almost' to them," **

"Them? Seems like we've made an enemy," Damien said, "Or a few,"

Great...I don't want enemies; I just want to be an average teenager (fledgling)!

"**Tell your nerves to be quiet and go to sleep," Stevie Rae said, closing her eyes and pulling the blanket back up over her. "I'm ok," She repeated. "We're all going to be ok," Then her breathing deepened and I swear in less time than it took me to blink, she was asleep. **

**I stifled my big sigh and scooted back on the bed, trying to get comfortable. Nala curled up between Stevie Rae and me, and gave me a disgruntled **_**mee-uf-ow!**_** That I knew meant she wanted me to relax and go to sleep.**

**Sleep? And possibly dream again? Uh, no. Not likely. **

**Instead I kept an eye on Stevie Rae's breathing and petted Nala absently. It was so darn weird how normal everything seemed here in the little bubble of peace we'd made. Looking at the sleeping Stevie Rae I found it almost impossible to believe that just a few hours ago she'd had an arrow sticking through her chest-**

"Does it have to keep saying that??" I muttered.

"You're the one who's thinking it- dork," Aphrodite pointed out.

I just silently glared at her.

**-and we had to escape from the House of Night as chaos tore our world apart.**

Stevie Rae had stopped reading, and everyone looked grim. The House of Night is our home, what could possibly have made us need to leave??

**Unwilling to allow myself to sleep, my exhausted thoughts circled back, replaying the events of the night. And as I shifted through them, I was amazed at how any of us had survived....**

"I don't like the sound of that," Damien said.

**I remembered that Stevie Rae had, unbelievably, asked me to get a pencil and some paper 'cause she thought it'd be a good time to make a list of stuff we needed to get down in the tunnels so that we'd have the right supplies and whatnot if we'd have to stay hidden for a while.**

"Tunnels?" Erin wondered.

"Well it's safe to assume that none of us are aware of the current events in the book- in that case it'd probably just be better for Stevie Rae to keep reading," Damien said.

Erin stuck her tongue at him.

**She'd asked me that, in a totally calm voice, while she was sitting in front of me with an arrow stuck through her chest.**

"You sure are weird, bumpkin," Aphrodite said giving Stevie Rae a weird look. I didn't disagree with her there.

**I remember looking at her, getting really sick to my stomach, and looking away saying, "Stevie Rae, I'm not so sure this is a good time to be making lists," **

"If this wasn't so serious, I'd laugh," Shaunee said.

"**Ouch! Dang that hurts worse than gettin' one of those goat-head thistles stuck in your foot!" Stevie Rae had sucked air and flinched, but still managed to smile over her shoulder at Darius, who had ripped open the back of her shirt to expose the arrow that was sticking out of the middle. **

"**Sorry, I didn't mean it was your fault it hurt. What'd you say your name was again?"**

"**I am Darius, Priestess," **

"Priestess?" Stevie Rae said blankly looking at the book.

"You must have Changed!" Damien said excitedly.

"Really??" I said, I was happy that my best friend made it through the Change and didn't die- and from the looks of it, I haven't died either.

"**He's a Son of Erebus warrior," Aphrodite added-**

"Wait- what are you doing there anyway?" Shaunee asked.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be with Terrible, Warlike and Wasp?" Erin sneered.

"Die dorkamese twins, I don't see you there,"

That shut them up rather quickly.

**-giving him a surprisingly sweet smile. I had described it as surprisingly sweet because Aphrodite is usually spoiled, selfish, hateful and kindda hard to tolerate in general-**

I gulped, if looks could kill- I'll be dead now...Aphrodite was glaring holes through me for something I didn't even do (yet).

-**even though I'm starting to like her. In other words, she is definitely not sweet, but it was becoming clearer and clearer that she **_**really **_**had a thing for Darius, hence the unusually sweetness. **

Now I noticed Aphrodite looked uncomfortable- guess this book is going to be embarrassing for all of us....

"**Please. His warrior-ness is obvious. He's built like a mountain," Shaunee said giving Darius an appreciative leer.**

"Ha! So we are there!"

"**A totally hot mountain," Erin echoed making kiss noises at Darius. **

If I thought the look she gave me was scary- ha, the look she gave the twins was enough to have them edging to the other side of the room nervously.

"**He's taken, Twin freaks, so go play with each other," Aphrodite automatically snapped at them, but it had seemed to me that she didn't have her heart in the insult. Actually, now that I think about it, she'd sounded almost nice.**

Stevie Rae was staring at the book in disbelief, "Either your book-self is crazy, or something major happened."

"**Oh yeah, thanks for reminding us that our boyfriends aren't here," Shaunee said.**

"Ah, so you guys have finally found someone," Damien said.

"Oh I can't wait to meet him!" Shaunee exclaimed.

"Ditto, twin," Erin said.  
**"'Cause they're probably being eaten by man-bird-freaks," Erin said. **

That dampened the Twin's mood.

"**Hey cheer up. Zoey's grandmother didn't say the Raven Mockers actually **_**ate **_**people. She said they just picked them up with their humongous beaks and threw them against the wall or whatever over and over again until every bone in their body was broken," Aphrodite told the twins with a light hearted grin.**

We all stared at her, "You are totally NOT helping,"

She shrugged.

"**Uh, Aphrodite, I don't think you're helping," I said. Though she was right. Actually, as scary as it sounded, she and the twins both might have been right. I hadn't wanted to think about that was too long, so I'd turn my attention back to my injured best friend. She'd looked absolutely horrible, pale, sweaty and covered with blood. **

"I don't like that visual..." I muttered.

"**Stevie Rae, don't you think we should get you to a-**

"**I got it! I got it!" Just then Jack burst through the tunnel area that had been made into Stevie Rae's room, closely followed by a yellow Lab that rarely let the kid out of her sight. **

"Who's Jack?"

"Dunno, new student?"

"He's got a dog...Is it allowed?"

**He was flushed and brandishing a white brief-case looking thing that had a big red cross on it, "It was right where you said it would be, Stevie Rae. In that kindda kitchen tunnel place,"**

"**And as soon as I get my breath I'll tell you how pleasantly surprised I was when I discovered the working refrigerators and microwaves," Damien said, following Jack into the room heavily and dramatically holding his side. "You'll have to explain to me how you manage to get all of that down here, including electricity to run it," Damien paused, caught sight of Stevie Rae's bloody, ripped shirt and the arrow that still protruded from her back and her cheeks blanched white. "You'll have to explain **_**after **_**you're all fixed up and not en brochette anymore,"**

"Huh? En- what?" Shaunee said.

"Bro-who?" Erin chimed.

Damien sighed.

"**En-Huh?" Shaunee said. **

"**Bro-What?" Erin said.**

We all laughed.

"**It's French for something being skewered, usually food, cretins. The world going insane and evil letting slip the birds of war"- He raised his eyebrows, deliberately misquoting Shakespeare, obviously expecting them to recognize it, which they just as obviously didn't- "Does not excuse sloppy vocabulary," Then he turned to Darius, "Oh, I did find these in a not- so-sanitary pile of tools," And lifted what looked like giant scissors. **

I noticed Stevie Rae looked kindda pale, "Hey, you think one of us should read?"

"Nah, I'm fine," She said.

"**Bring the wire cutters and the first aid kit here," Darius said in an all-business-like voice. **

"**What are you going to do with the wire cutters?" Jack asked. **

"**I'm going to cut the quill end of the arrow off so that I can pull it the rest of the way through the priestess' body. Then she can begin to heal," He said simply.**

I winced, that sounds like it's gonna hurt.

"On second thought- who wants to read?" Stevie Rae asked looking pale.

"I'll do it," Damien said.

**Jack gasped and then fell back against Damien, who put an arm around him.**

"Aawww."

"Damien finally found himself a boyfriend,"

Damien blushed.

**Duchess, the yellow Lab who had become completely attached to Jack since her original owner er, a fledgling kid named James Stark, had died and un-died and shot an arrow through Stevie Rae as part of an evil plot to let loose Kalona, a nasty fallen angel (yes, looking back on it I see that it's complicated and even kind of confusing, but that seems to be typical for evil plots), whined and leaned back against his leg.**

"Ok, I am thoroughly confused," Aphrodite said, "How do you un-die?"

"Scientifically, it's impossible," Damien said.

**Oh Jack and Damien are a couple.**

"I knew it!" Shaunee squealed.

**Which means they're gay teenagers. Hello. It happens. More often than you'd expect. Wait, scratch that, more often than **_**parents **_**expect. **

"**Damien, maybe you and Jack could, uh, go back to that kitchen you found and see if you can whip up something for us to eat," I said, trying to think of things for them to do that didn't include staring at Stevie Rae. "I'll bet we'd all feel better if we ate something," **

"**I'd probably puke," Stevie Rae said, "That is, unless it's blood," **

"You've definitely Changed," I said, that blood part confirmed it.

"But before, it said that she died- and then undied. Which doesn't make sense..." Damien said.

"Hello- still here," Stevie Rae said waving her hand in front of Damien's face.

**-She tried to shrug apologetically, but broke off the movement with a gasp and turned even whiter than her already totally pale complexion.**

I don't like the sound of this.....

"**Yeah, not really hungry over here either," Shaunee said gawking at the arrow that was poking out of Stevie Rae's back with the same kind of fascination that made people rubberneck at car wrecks.**

"Sorry," Shaunee said apologetically.

"**Ditto, Twin," Erin said, she was looking everywhere but at Stevie Rae. **

**I was just opening my mouth to tell them I didn't really care if they were hungry or not, I just wanted to keep them busy **_**and **_**away from Stevie Rae for a while when Erik Night hurried into the room. **

"**Go it!!" He said. He was holding a **_**really **_**old combo CD-cassette-radio that was humongous. It was one of those thing that they used to call boom boxes way back in the day. Like the 1980's. Without looking at Stevie Rae, he set it on the table that was close to her and Darius fiddling with the ginormic, glaringly silver knobs, muttering that he hoped to pick up something from down here. **

"**Where's Venus?" Stevie Rae asked Erik-**

"Wait did you say _Venus_?!" Aphrodite interrupted.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"My old roommate," Aphrodite said, "She died a few months ago,"

I realized what that meant, "Fledglings dying and then un-dying; I think I sort of get it know,"

"Does that mean, I die?" Stevie Rae asked.

We shrugged.

**It obviously hurt for her to talk, and her voice had gone all shaky. Erik had glanced back at the round, blanket-draped entrance to the room that had served as a door- which was empty. **

"**She was right behind me. I thought she'd come in here and-" Then he did look at Stevie Rae and his words fell away. "Ah man, that must really hurt," he said softly, "You look bad, Stevie Rae,"**

The mood in the room just dropped even more; I think even Aphrodite didn't look like herself.

**She tried, and failed to smile at him, "Well I've felt better. I'm glad Venus helped you out with the boom box. Sometimes we can get some of the radio stations down here." **

"**Yeah, that's what Venus said," Erik said vaguely. He was staring at the arrow sticking out of Stevie Rae's bare back. **

**Even through my worry of Stevie Rae, I'd started to wonder about the absent Venus and tried like hell to remember what she looked like. **

"That's weird," Damien said.

"What? I forget people's faces....a lot," I muttered.

"Can you forget Aphrodite's face?" Damien asked.

That was a weird question, how do you forget Aphrodite's face??? Though she may be a bitch, she's really, and I mean _really _pretty.

"No,"

"Well Venus is sorta like that,"

Huh, someone else like Aphrodite? Somehow I can't imagine that- one Aphrodite is bad enough.

**Last time I'd gotten a really good look at the red fledglings-**

"_Red _fledglings?" Shaunee interrupted.

"I'm guessing that when the fledglings died and then un-died they become red fledglings?" Damien replied thoughtfully.

**-they hadn't been 'red' yet, which means the outline of a crescent moon in the middle of their foreheads had still been a sapphire-colour like all fledgling's tattoos are when they're first Marked. But these fledglings died. Then un-died. And they had all been bloodsucking, crazed monsters until Stevie Rae went through a type of Change.**

"So, I died- then un-died; became a crazed monster and then Changed??? Doesn't this sound insane to ya'll??" Stevie Rae exclaimed.

"To be honest- it doesn't even make sense,"

**-Somehow Aphrodite's humanity (who knew she had any?) mixed with the power of the five elements- all of which I can control- and voila! Stevie Rae got her humanity back, along with some gorgeous adult vampyre tattoos that looked like vines and flowers framing her face. **

"Oooh...they sound pretty," Shaunee said.

"Can't wait to see them," Erin said.

**But instead of the tattoos being dark blue, it had turned red. As in the colour of fresh blood. When that happened to Stevie Rae, all the undead-dead kids' fledgling tattoos had turned red too. And they all got their humanity back- in theory. I really hadn't been around them or Stevie Rae enough since her Change to know for sure that everything is one hundred percent with all of them. Oh and Aphrodite lost her Mark- totally. So she's supposed to be human again, even though she still has visions.**

"WHAT?!!!" Aphrodite shrieked.

"Can that even happen???" Damien asked.

"HELL NO!! HELL NO!!" Aphrodite continued ranting.

"You know, you look really un-attractive when you shriek like that," Shaunee said looking Aphrodite.

"Yeah, you look kindda like a harpy," Erin added. Then they dissolved into twin giggles.

"I LOSE MY MARK FOR A COUNTRY-FIED BUMPKIN?!!!!!"

"Hey- you still have visions," Stevie Rae said trying to calm her down- but Aphrodite didn't even hear her.

"Everybody shut up!!" I yelled, and added fire to boost the meaning of my words.

They fell silent almost immediately.

"Damien, just keep reading," I said tiredly.

**All of this explains why the last time I'd spent any time with Venus she was more than kindda disgusting looking since she was very nastily undead. But now she'd been fixed- or at least sort of- and I knew that she'd hung with Aphrodite before she died (and un-died), which has to mean she had to have been totally gorgeous because Aphrodite didn't believe in ugly friends. **

**Okay, before I sound like an Uber-jealous freak let me explain: Erik Night is to-die-for hot in a Superman-Clark Kent kind of way and, to carry through with the superhero analogy, he's also talented and honestly a good guy. Er, Vampyre. Recently Changed vampyre at that. He is also my boyfriend. Er, ex-boyfriend. **

"What?!" The twins yelled.

I shrugged, how am I supposed to know about the future?

**Recently ex-boyfriend at that. Sadly, that means I'm going to be ridiculously jealous of anyone, even one of the kindda freaky red fledglings, who might be catching too much of his interest, (too much=any). **

**Darius's business like voice, had thankfully interrupted my inner babbling. **

"**The radio can wait. Right now, Stevie Rae must be attended to. She will need a clean shirt and blood as soon as I get through with this," Darius spoke as he put the first aid kit on Stevie Rae's bed side table, opened it, and busily pulled out gauze and alcohol and some scary stuff.**

I noticed Stevie Rae paled even further; I can't blame her. I'm about ready to throw up.

**That had definitely shut everybody up. **

"**You know, I love ya'll like white bread, don't you?" Stevie Rae said, giving us a brave smile. My friends and I nodded woodenly. "Ok, so you won't take it the wrong way if I say that all of ya'll but Zoey need to go find somethin' to keep yourselves busy while Darius yanks this arrow outta my chest,"  
**

"**All of them except me? No no no no. Why do you want me to stay?" **

A look of hurt passed through Stevie Rae's face.

"Um...look...uh..." How do I put that I can't stand it???????

"Don't worry Zo. If it were me in your position- I wouldn't like it so much either..."

**I saw humour in Stevie Rae's pain-filled eyes, "'Cause you're our High Priestess, Z. You gotta stay and help Darius. Plus you've already seen me die once; how much worse could this be than that?" Then she paused and her eyes widened as she stared at the palms of my still dorkishly raised hands and blurted, "Holy crap z! Look at your hands!" **

I mentally groaned, what happened now?????

**I turned my hands over so I could see what the hell she was staring at, and felt my own eyes widen. Tattoos spread across my palm, the same beautiful intricate pattern of latticework swirls that that decorated my face and neck and stretched down either side of my spine and around my waist.**

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, but ah hell was what I thought. What did I go through this time to get those???

_**How could I have forgotten?? **_**I'd felt the familiar burning flash across my palms as well we all escaped to the safety of the tunnels. I'd realized then what the burning meant. My goddess, Nyx, the personification of Night, had Marked me again as exclusively hers. Had set me apart, again, from all other fledglings and vampyres in the world. No other fledgling had a filled-in, expanded Mark. That only happened after a kid went through the Change, and then the outline of the crescent moon on the forehead was filled in and expanded to a unique, one-of-a-kind tattoo that framed the face, proclaiming to the world that he or she is a vampyre. **

**So my face proclaimed I was a vampyre, but my body said I was still a fledgling. And the rest of my tattoos? Well, that was something that had never happened before- not to a fledgling and not to a vamp, and even now I wasn't one hundred percent sure what it meant.**

"Great....so much for being a normal fledgling..." I grumbled, more tattoos, being stared at- again.

"**Wow, Z, they're amazing," Damien's voice came from beside me. Hesitantly he touched my palm. I looked up from my hands to his friendly brown eyes, searching them for any trace of change in the way he saw me. I looked for signs of, hero worship, nervousness or even worse, fear. **

"Oh, come on Zoey; you know we're better than that," Damien said.

I shrugged apologetically.

**And what I had seen was just Damien- my friend- and the warmth of his smile. **

"**I felt it happening before, when we first got down here. I-I guess I forgot," I said.**

"**That's our Z," Jack said smiling, "Only she could forget something that' practically a miracle," **

"**More than practically," Shaunee said.**

"**But it's a Zoey miracle. They happen pretty much all the time," Erin said matter-of-factly. **

Great...so many miracles that they're being called Zoey-Miracles...Ah hell!!

"**I can't keep a tattoo," Aphrodite said. "And she's covered in them, figures." But her smile took the bite out of her words. **

"Do I get brain damage in a few months? If not- I think I'll kill myself now," Aphrodite said staring at the book.

I don't think she's joking....

"You know twin, Aphrodite actually seems OK in a few months," Shaunee said.

"Yeah twin, maybe she does get brain damage," Erin said. Then they both shrugged.

"**They are the Marks of our Goddess' favour, showing that you are indeed travelling the path Nyx would choose for you. You are our High Priestess," Darius spoke solemnly.**

"Wait just a minute!" I interrupted, "What happened to Neferet??"

"I knew it," Aphrodite muttered.

"What? Do you know something we don't?" I asked her.

"I've been getting bad feelings from Neferet lately; Deinyo said she gets bad vibes from her for a while,"

"Deinyo?" I asked confused, what does she have to do with all this?

"She can sort of sense people's...I don't know...aura.....I think...." Aphrodite said uncertainly.

"Neferet usually deals with the dying fledglings; do you think she might have anything to do with the fledglings un-dying?" Damien asked.

"That, I don't know."

"**The one Nyx has chosen. And, priestess, I need your aid with Stevie Rae."**

"**Ah hell," I muttered, chewing my lip nervously and balling my hands into fists, hiding my exotic new tattoos. **

"**Oh, for crap's sake! I'll stay and help!" Aphrodite marched over to where Stevie Rae was sitting on the edge of her bed. "Blood and pain don't bother me as long as they aren't mine," **

"I must've hit my head while falling off the Grand Canyon," Aphrodite muttered.

Stevie Rae was torn between being confused that Aphrodite would help her and scared that Aphrodite would be near her when she was vulnerable.

"**I should take this closer to the entrance to the tunnels. I'd probably have more luck getting reception there," Erik said, and without so much as a glance at me or a word at my new tattoos, he disappeared through the blanket door. **

"You know twin, Erik is acting a lot like Aphrodite and Aphrodite is acting a lot nicer," Shaunee said.

"You have a point there twin...Hm...asshole Erik, I never thought that was possible," Erin said shaking her head. Both the twins sighed. Aphrodite rolled her eyes.

"**You know, I think food really was a good idea," Damien said, taking Jack's hand and starting to follow Erik out of the room. **

"**Yeah, Damien and I are gay. That means we're guaranteed to be good cooks," Jack said.**

"**We're with them," Shaunee said.**

"**Yeah, we're not convinced about the genetics of gay cooking. We'd better supervise," Erin said.**

"**The blood. Don't forget the blood. Laced with wine, if you have it. She'll need it to recover," Darius said.**

"**One of the refrigerators is full of blood. Then find Venus," Stevie Rae said grimacing again as Darius took an alcohol wipe and began to clean the dried blood on her back from the skin around the protruding arrow. "She likes wine. Tell her what you need and she'll get it for you."**

"Hey I just remembered something. The other fledglings are red fledglings, and Stevie Rae Changed- which means she's a red vampyre. So that means she'll be in charge of the red fledglings- that includes Venus," Damien said.

"Me, in charge of Venus?" Stevie Rae asked. A few moments ago that would've been considered impossible- but now, it kind of makes sense.

**The twins hesitated, passing a look between each other. Erin spoke for both of them, "Stevie Rae, are the red kids really ok? I mean, these **_**are **_**the kids who killed the Union football players and grabbed Z's human boyfriend, aren't they?"**

"WHAT?!!" I shrieked looking at Stevie Rae.

She looked just as alarmed as I was, "I don't know!"

"**Ex-boyfriend," I said, but they ignored me. **

"**Venus just helped Erik," Stevie Rae said, "And Aphrodite stayed here for two days. She's still in one piece," Stevie Rae said.**

"I did what???" Aphrodite cut in- but this time she didn't shout or rant; I think she just gave up.

"**Yeah, but Erik is a big, healthy male vamp. He'd be hard to bite," Shaunee said. **

"**Even though he's definitely yummy," Erin said.**

"**True, twin," Both of them had given me apologetic shrugs before Shaunee continued, "And Aphrodite is so damn nasty that no one would want to bite her," **

"**But we're bits of vanilla and chocolate. We tempt even the nicest bloodsucking monster," Erin said.**

Aphrodite snorted, "Twin freaks, who would want to bite you?"

The twins glared at her.

"**You're mom's a bloodsucking monster," Aphrodite said, smiling sweetly. **

"**If ya'll don't top bickering, I'm gonna bite you!!" Stevie Rae yelled, then winced again and made little panting sounds as she tried to breathe through the pain. **

"**Guys, you're making her hurt herself, and you're giving me a headache," I said quickly, getting more and more worried about how bad Stevie Rae looked by the second. **

"**Stevie Rae says the red fledglings are okay. We just escaped from all hell breaking loose at the House of Night with them and they didn't try to eat any of us on the way here. So be nice, and go fine Venus like Stevie Rae said." **

"**Zoey, that's not a big mark on their favour," Damien said, "We were running for our lives, no one had time to eat anyone."**

"**Stevie Rae, once and for all- are the red fledglings safe?" I asked. **

"**I really wish ya'll would concentrate on being nicer and accepting them. You know it's not their fault they died and un-died."**

"**See, they're fine," I said. It was only later that I would remember Stevie Rae never really answered my question about whether the red fledglings were really safe. **

Stevie Rae looked really worried this time, and I was too. Stevie Rae is not known for lying, but she didn't really lie- just evade the question. Things are going to get so complicated in the future- I wish I would just sink in a hole and never be seen again.

"**All right, but we're holding Stevie Rae responsible," Shaunee said.**

"**Yeah, if one of them ties to chomp on us, we're going to have words with her about it after she gets better," Erin said. **

"**Blood and wine. Now. Less talking. More doing." Darius said bluntly. **

Now I was beginning to see why Aphrodite liked Darius- he was straight to the point and not all sugar-coating and talking in riddles or poems. Plus I have a sneaking suspicion that he must be good-looking.

**They all scurried out of the room, leaving me with Darius, Aphrodite, and my best friend, currently en brochette.**

**Hell. **

"Well, that chapter was...um...informative," Damien said trying to find the right word.

"Yeah- it informed me that I get brain damage," Aphrodite said.

* * *

Well, how was that one? Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate the feed-back!!

:)


	4. Chapter 4

Chap 4

Well here's the one I've been looking forward to- the imprint.

Ok I've been gone for a while- but then i decided I might as well give you another chapter since i was sick and bored. Plus the author who supposedly adopted this story hasn't done anything yet.

Disclaimer......

Enjoy and Review! :)

______________________________________________________________________________)

We all rolled our eyes at Aphrodite; maybe she isn't so bad after all.

"I'll read," I turned- it was Aphrodite who spoke, that was a surprise.

"This one can't be any worse than the last," She shrugged.

**Chapter Three**

"**Seriously, Darius. Why can't we do this another way? Some other more hospital-like way. In a hospital. With doctors and waiting rooms for friends to wait while the...the...." I'd made a semi-panicky gesture at the arrow sticking through Stevie Rae's body. "While the **_**stuff's **_**getting fixed," **

"**There may be a better way, but not under these conditions. I have limited supplies down here, and if you took a moment to think about it, priestess, I do not believe you would want any of us to go above ground to one of the city hospitals tonight," Darius said. **

**I chewed my lip silently, thinking that he was right but still trying to come up with a less horrifying alternative. **

"**No. I'm not going back up there. Not only is Kalona free, along with is totally gross bird babies, but I can't get caught above ground when the sun rises, and I can feel that sunrise isn't that far away. I don't think I could survive it already hurting like this. Z, you're just gonna have to do it," Stevie Rae said.**

"Sunrise? I know the sun irritates vampyres but it shouldn't be _that_ bad," Damien said.

"But I'm a _red vampyre _maybe it's different," Stevie Rae suggested.

"What, the whole burn to ashes thing?" I asked.

"I don't think so...At least I hope not," Damien said.

"**You want me to push the arrow while you hold her still?" Aphrodite asked.**

I paled, so did Stevie Rae. Ah hell....

"**No, watching it would probably worse than helping with it," I said.**

"**I'll do my best not to scream too loud," Stevie Rae said.**

**She'd been serious, which made my heart squeeze then, just like it did now as I thought back.**

"**Oh, honey! Scream all you want, hell I'll scream with you," I looked at Darius. "I'm ready whenever you are,"**

"**I will cut of the feather end of the arrow that is still protruding from the front of her chest. When I do that, you take this," He said handing me a wad of gauze that was wet with alcohol, "and press it over the cut-off end. When I have a good grip on the front of the arrow I'll tell to push. Push hard while I pull. It should come out fairly easy," **

Ah crap. Ah crap. Ah crap. Ah crap. Ah crap! Something's gonna go wrong- knowing me I'd probably get a raging case of diarrhoea and ruin everything.....

"**But it might hurt just a little?" Stevie Rae said sounding faint.**

"It's gonna hurt a lot...." Stevie Rae murmured, looking even more pale. No one answered her- no one knew how.

"**Priestess," Darius rested his big hand on her shoulder. "This will hurt quite a bit more than a little." **

Hmm...Darius and Aphrodite are more alike than I thought...I glanced at her, maybe he's the one that gets her to stop acting like such a- as the twins would put it- hateful hag.

"**That's why I'm here," Aphrodite said. "I'll be holding on to you so you don't flail about as you writhe in pain and mess up Darius's plan." She hesitated and then added, "But you need to know if you go all crazy from agony and-**

"WHAT?" Aphrodite had stopped reading and cussed.

"What's happened?" I asked immediately concerned for Stevie Rae.

**-and bite me **_**again**_**, I'm gonna knock the shit right out of you." **

"Ew. Stevie Rae- why would you bite _that _hateful hag?" Erin asked.

"Stevie Rae bites Aphrodite?" I asked, well that was a reversal of roles.... Hah! Karma bites back.

"Ok ya'll- drop it," Stevie Rae said finally.

"**Aphrodite. I'm not going to bite you. Again," Stevie Rae said. **

"**Let's just get this over with," I said. **

**Before Darius ripped off what remains of Stevie Rae's shirt he said, "Priestess, I must bare your breasts." **

"**Well I've been thinkin' about that while you've been workin' on my back. You're kindda like a doctor, aren't you?" **

"**All of the Sons of Erebus are trained in the medicine field so that we can care for our wounded brothers." He relaxed his stern expression for a moment and smiled at Stevie Rae, "So, yes, you may think of me as a physician." **

"**Then I'm fine with you seeing my boobies. Doctors are trained not to care for that kind of stuff." **

"**Let's hope his training hasn't been **_**that **_**thorough," Aphrodite muttered. **

**Darius gave her a quick wink. I made a gagging sound, which made Stevie Rae giggle gasp when the movement caused her pain. She tried to smile reassuringly at me but she was way too shaky and pale to pull it off.**

"I don't like the sound of that," I said.

"Don't worry- did you forget already? This is just you thinking back, it's already happened- and I'm fine," Stevie Rae said.

I realized she was right, I'd been so caught up in it that I'd forgotten this was just me thinking it in my mind after I had woken up from that nightmare.

**It was about then that I really started to worry. Back at the House of Night undead-dead Stark followed Nerfert's pain-in-the-butt orders and shot Stevie Rae-**

"WHAT?" I couldn't believe it, my _mentor _was the one that gave the order to shoot Stevie Rae?

Even Aphrodite looked shocked, "Ok, I knew she was acting weird and giving off bad vibes but ordering someone to _shoot _another person no, a _vampyre- _with a bow and arrow....."

Your mentor is supposed to be someone who you can trust, but obviously how much can I trust her now that I learned she'd been ordering some kid named Stark to shoot my best friend?

-**blood had spilled out of her body at an alarming rate, so much so that it had made the ground around her look like it was bleeding-**

"I will NEVER be able to look at Neferet the same way again," Shaunee said.

"Forget that twin; I'd never be able to look at her _ever again_, period." Erin said.

There wasn't a time that I had agreed with the twins more than now.

"For once I actually agree with you two," Aphrodite said.

**-which fulfilled the stupid prophecy to free the stupid fallen angel, Kalona from his gazillion year imprisonment in the earth. Stevie Rae looked like all of the blood in her body had been left on the ground and even though she'd done pretty well up until then, and been walking and talking and mostly conscious, she was quickly fading into a ghostly white nothing in front of our eyes.**

"I feel sick, I feel really, really sick," I muttered getting up.

"Not on my bed or I will _kill _you," Aphrodite said dangerously.

"Zoey? Zoey, you ok?" Shaunee asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." I said.

"**Ready Zoey?" Darius asked making me jump.**

**Fear made my teeth chatter so hard I barely managed to stutter, "Y-yeah," **

"**Stevie Rae?" he said gently, "Are you prepared?"**

"**As I'll ever be, I guess. But I can tell you I really wish stuff like this would quit happenin' to me."**

"**Aphrodite?" He'd looked to her next.**

**Aphrodite moved so that she was kneeling on the floor in front of the bed and took both of Stevie Rae's forearms in a strong hold. "Try not to flail around too much," She told Stevie Rae.**

"**I'll do my best," **

"**On three," Darius said, with the shears poised close to the feather end of the arrow. "One...two...three!" **

**Then everything happened fast. He'd clipped off the end of the arrow like he'd just cut through a tiny twig. **

"**Cover it!" He barked the command at me, and I'd pressed the gauze against the inch or so of arrow that still stuck out of the front of Stevie Rae's chest squarely between her boobies while he moved behind her. Stevie Rae's eyes had been squeezed closed. She was breathing in little short panting gasps again and sweat was beading her face. "Again, on three, only this time you push against that end of the arrow," Darius said. I wanted to stop everything and scream **_**No**_**! **_**Let's just wrap her up and take our chances getting to a hospital. **_**But Darius had already begun counting, "One....two....three!" **

**I shoved against the hard, newly sliced end of the arrow as Darius, bracing himself with one hand against Stevie Rae's shoulder, pulled the arrow from her body with one swift, awful-sounding jerk. **

**Stevie Rae screamed. So did I. So did Aphrodite. And then Stevie Rae slumped forward into my arms.**

"Oh god," Damien gasped, "This doesn't seem good..."

Stevie Rae paled even further- if that was possible.

"Look," I said calmly (as calmly as I could manage anyway), "Everything's going to be OK. This hasn't happened, we can change all of this."

Aphrodite began reading again.

"**Keep the gauze pressed against the wound." Darius quickly and efficiently cleaned the newly exposed hole in Stevie Rae's back. **

**I remembered repeating over and over, "It's ok. It's ok. It's out now. It's all over...."**

**Looking back, I remember that Aphrodite and I had both been sobbing-**

Aphrodite muttered something that (to my amusement) sounded a lot like 'brain damage'.

I rolled my eyes at her.

**Stevie Rae's head had been pressed against my shoulder, so I couldn't see her face, but I could feel wetness leaking down my shirt. When Darius lifted her gently and laid her back on the bed so that he could dress the entry wound I felt a jolt of pure fear stab through me. **

**I'd never seen anyone look as pale as Stevie Rae- anyone who was still alive, that is.**

The twins looked queasy.

"You're a pessimist," Aphrodite said looking at me.

Am I really? Or do I change? Why is my life and the people around me so complicated?

**Her eyes were squeezed tight shut, but red- tinged tears made horrible tracks down her cheeks, the slight pink in stark contrast to her almost transparent colourless skin. **

"**Stevie Rae? Are you ok?" I could see her chest rising and falling, she hadn't opened her eyes and she wasn't making any noise. **

To say the atmosphere in the room was tense- is definitely an understatement. This is not going to happen, this is not going to happen. I chanted over and over again.

"**I'm...still....here..." She whispered with long pauses between them, "But....kindda....floating...above....ya'll," **

"**She's not bleeding," Aphrodite said in a low voice.**

"**She has nothing left to bleed," Darius said taping the gauze on her chest.**

Fear filled everyone's faces- hell even Aphrodite's. Not going to happen, not going to happen. I kept chanting.

"**The arrow missed her heart," I said, "its purpose wasn't to kill her. It was to bleed her."**

"**We are lucky indeed that the fledgling missed his mark," Darius said.**

**His words went round and round inside my head because I knew what none of the rest of them did, that it was impossible for Stark to miss his mark. His gift from Nyx had been that his aim was always true, that he would always hit whatever he aimed at, even if that sometimes had horrible consequences. Our Goddess had told me herself that once she gave a gift, she never took it back, so even though Stark had died and then came back as a twisted version of himself, he still would have hit her heart and killed Stevie Rae if that had been his intention. So did that mean there was more of Stark's humanity left than there had seemed be? He'd called my name; he'd recognised me, I shivered, reliving the chemistry that had sparked between us right before he died. **

"Uh....so when exactly did you break up with Erik?" Shaunee asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know," Too many guys in my life I groaned internally.

"**Priestess? Did you not hear me?" Darius and Aphrodite had been staring at me. **

"**Oh sorry. Sorry. I was distracted...." I hadn't wanted to explain that I was thinking about the guy who had almost killed my best friend. I still don't want to explain that. **

"**Priestess, I was saying, if Stevie Rae doesn't get blood, this wound, though it missed her heart, could very well be the death of her." The warrior shook his head while he examined Stevie Rae. **

"**Though I cannot tell you for sure that she will heal. She is a new kind of vampyre and I do not know how her boy will react, but were she one of my brother warriors, I would be very concerned," **

"Well, from what I can see, there is only one solution to this," Damien said thoughtfully.

"And that would be?" I asked, hopefully everything's gonna be ok...

"Blood."

Oh, of course. That would help her heal a lot faster.

"Fresh blood."

"Fresh blood? Where are we gonna get fresh blood if it's under- oh," I stopped, the fact that Aphrodite had been turned human had just registered in my mind. Apparently Aphrodite understood too- cause she started glaring at Stevie Rae.

"I haven't done anything," Stevie Rae said defensively, "Yet."

"You know what, you read," Aphrodite said tossing the book to Stevie Rae.

"Alright, but it's not gonna make a difference if I read or if you read," She said.

"**I drew a deep breath and readied myself before saying, "Okay. Well. Forget waiting for the Twins and their bloodmobile. Bite me." I told Stevie Rae.**

**Her eyes fluttered open and she somehow managed the hint of a smile, "Human blood, Z." She said before closing her eyes again. **

"**She's probably right. Human blood always has a more powerful effect on us than fledglings or even vampyre blood,"**

"**Well, then, I'll run and get the twins," I said, even though I hadn't any real idea where I'd be running to. **

"**Fresh blood would work better than that bland, refrigerated stuff," Darius said.**

I noticed Aphrodite's eyes hardened. I hope Aphrodite doesn't decide to get violent....

**He hadn't so much as glance at Aphrodite, but she definitely got the message. "Oh for craps sake! I'm supposed to let her bite me? Again?" **

"You. Are. So. Not. Biting. Me. EVER!" Aphrodite said slowly, glaring holes through Stevie Rae.

"Hey, hey! I haven't done shit! If ya'll remember, _you _bit _me_!" Stevie Rae defended.

Aphrodite opened her mouth to retaliate but I decided to step in.

"Alright, everybody shut up. None of this has happened, so quit acting like it has. Aphrodite- calm down and stop glaring at Stevie Rae." I said tiredly.

**I blinked, unsure what to say. Thankfully, Darius came to the rescue.**

"**Ask yourself what your Goddess would have you do," He said.**

"**Well, shit! This being one of the good guys, really, **_**really, **_**sucks. Literally," She sighed and stood up, and pushed back a sleeve of her black velvet dress. Holding her wrist in front of Stevie Rae's face, she said, "Fine. Go ahead. Bite me. But you owe me big-time. Again. And I do not know why I'm the one who keeps saving your life. I mean, I don't even-****" Her words were choked off with a yip of **_**yikes! **_

"You are so dead!"

"Again, I haven't done anythin'!"

"Everybody shut up!" I yelled, that was weird...The twins haven't said anything in a long time...

I looked over to them. Both Shaunee and Erin were trying to hold back laughter- and failing.

"Karma, bites back! Hah!" Shaunee said gleefully.

"Hateful hag gets what she deserves!" Erin said.

That didn't go well with Aphrodite's temper....

"Hey, what Aphrodite did- well going to do- will save Stevie Rae's _life_." Damien interrupted before everything gets out of hand.

I gave him a grateful smile, "If you guys aren't gonna behave- I'll separate you, by force," I warned.

**It's still kindda disconcerting to think about what happened next. When Stevie Rae grabbed Aphrodite's arm I saw her entire expression change. She instantly went from sweet BFF to a feral stranger. Her eyes glowed a nasty dark red, and with a scary hiss she bit the crap out of Aphrodite's wrist.**

At this, Aphrodite's face paled.

"Hey, did you guys remember what they said about these 'red fledglings' or vampyres?" She asked, "I don't want to get murdered."

"I don't know..." I mumbled, I hadn't thought of Aphrodite's safety in this, since it is my BFF- Stevie Rae wouldn't hurt anyone; but after hearing this, I'm not too sure. Her transformation into a 'red vampyre' may have changed her. Then I remembered the book saying something about the red fledglings eating the union football players. I shuddered and decided to keep that information to myself.

**Then Aphrodite's **_**yikes **_**turned into a disturbingly- **

"Bumpkin, if you read another word; I. Will. Strangle. You." Aphrodite interrupted.

"Aphrodite," I warned, "I told you to be nice-

"Actually, I'd have to agree with Aphrodite here," Damien interrupted.

We all turned to him, "Haven't you guys read the psychology section of the _Fledgling Handbook_?" He asked.

"No," I admitted, I really hadn't had time to read that thing.

"Well whatever happens next, I don't think anyone besides Stevie Rae and Aphrodite should hear it," He said, "And maybe you, Zoey- cause you're there anyway."

"No one is reading it." Aphrodite said sharply.

"It may be important," Damien said.

"Alright- I don't get why you two," I said pointing at Damien and Aphrodite, "Are so worked up about it. What's in the psychology section on the _Fledgling Handbook_?"

Damien sighed, "Vampyre saliva has coagulants, anticoagulants, and endorphins that act on the pleasure zones on the brain, human and vamp."

"So that means, oh," The meaning dawned on me as I remembered my little meeting with Heath on the wall.

I heard Stevie Rae gasp, she was reading the book. Then she looked up at Aphrodite and gave her an apologetic smile?

"Fuck, I don't even want to know." Aphrodite said.

I looked over and began reading silently; I swear my face must've turned completely red.

"Ok! Would everyone just tell us what the hell's going on?" Shaunee yelled.

"Yeah; cuz Aphrodite and Zoey are blushing like crazy an' Stevie Rae's keeps saying 'sorry' over and over again!" Erin said.

"Butt out dorkamese twins you aren't gonna hear anything," Aphrodite said.

"Ok, everyone just calm down. Sorry guys," I said to the twins, "But this isn't for you to hear."

"Sounds like gossip to me," Shaunee said with a glint in her eye.

"Huh twin, I wonder what we could do with it- torment Aphrodite for the rest of her miserable life?" Erin suggested.

"You two aren't reading."

Before the bickering continued I grabbed the book and began reading.

**Then Aphrodite's **_**yikes **_**turned into a disturbingly sensual moan-**

"Ok, I do NOT want to hear another word of that," Shaunee said looking a little disturbed.

"Uh-huh, forget it- you can keep that part to yourselves. I'd rather keep my innocent mind clean."

"What _innocent _mind?" Aphrodite sneered.

"You're one to talk," Shaunee began.

"At least we don't go sleeping around with every guy we see," Erin finished.

"What?"

"Alright enough!" I yelled, stopping them before Aphrodite could lunge at the twins.

"Ok I'll skip it, goddess," I muttered.

"**Ok. Awkward," **

"**Seriously could've gone my whole life without seeing that."**

**I'd looked away from Stevie Rae and company to see the twins standing just inside the blanket door. Erin was holding several packets of what was obviously blood. Shaunee was holding a bottle of some kind of red wine and a glass, as in the typical kitchen variety that mom pours ice tea into. **

**Duchess pushes part them and came wagging doggily-**

"Is that even a word?" Damien asked.

**Into the room with Jack close behind him.**

"**Ohmigod, girl-on-girl action while the guy gets the benefits," Jack said.**

Stevie Rae turned a brilliant shade of red and Aphrodite began muttering to herself again.

"**Interesting....to think some guys would really find that a turn-on." Damien had come into the room behind Jack and was holding a paper bag and peering at Stevie Rae, Aphrodite and Darius like he was watching a science experiment.**

Aphrodite switched from muttering to glaring holes through Damien, while Stevie Rae turned even brighter red (if that's possible). Why did we have to read this thing again?

**Darius managed to break the kiss, pulling Aphrodite close to him and holding her tight against his chest. "Priestess, this will humiliate her," he told me in a low urgent voice.**

"I will kill whoever wrote this book- slowly and painfully," Aphrodite said in an 'I-am-totally-not-joking voice. I'm beginning to worry about her sanity.

**I didn't bother to take time to wonder which **_**her **_**he was referring to, Aphrodite or Stevie Rae. Before he finished the sentence, I was already moving towards the Twins. **

"**I'll take that," I said, grabbing a bag o' blood from Erin. Totally diverting their attention from the scene on the bed, I used my teeth to tear open the packet like it was a bag of skittles, being sure I got a nice amount of blood on my mouth. "Hold the glass for me," I told Shaunee. She did as I commanded, even though she was giving me an **_**eew **_**look.**

"Seriously Zo- does blood really taste that good to you?" Erin asked. For once her twin did not say anything.

I shrugged, "Sorta, yeah."

I mentally sighed; again I'm the freak- why can't I ever be _normal_?

**Paying her no attention, I poured most of the blood into the glass, making a point of licking my lips and catching the spattering of red that hung on them-**

The Twins were shooting me looks that clearly said 'WTF?'

**Deliberately I upended the baggie and slurped out the remaining blood before I tossed the flattened pouch aside. Then I took the glass of blood from her. "Now the wine," I said. The bottle had already been opened, so all Shaunee had to do was pull out the cork. I held up the glass. I'd filled it about three-fourths full with blood, so it took no time to add the wine and fill the cup. **

**With a business-like movement I'd taken Aphrodite's upper arm and pulled, disengaging her from Stevie Rae's surprisingly gentle hold.**

Damien's eyebrows rosed. I purposely ignored this- whatever happens it probably won't be pretty. Ah hell!

**I discreetly stepped in front of her, blocking the view of the best friend's mostly naked body from the gawking masses, a.k.a., the Twins, Damien and Jack.**

**Stevie Rae glared up at me, her eyes glowing and her lips curled back to expose sharp, blood-reddened teeth.**

"I feel sick now..." Stevie Rae muttered.

Aphrodite looked kinda weird too- then again, I couldn't blame her.

**Even though I was shocked by how monster like she looked, I kept my voice calm and even added a touch of annoyance to it. "Okay, that's enough. Try this now."**

**Stevie Rae snarled at me.**

I mentally gulped, fighting fallen spirits was one thing- fighting against my BFF? I have no idea.

**Weirdly enough, Aphrodite had made a sound that echoed Stevie Rae's snarl. WTF?**

That was the thought of my mind at the moment too, and judging by everyone else's face, they were thinking roughly the same thing.

**I'd wanted to turn to Aphrodite to see what was going on with her, but I'd known it was best to stay focused on my best friend- who was growling at me.**

"Sorry Z," Stevie Rae said.

I waved it off, "None of this happened yet- we don't even know if it's really real." But I didn't really believe that- the book was too accurate. It knew our secrets and personalities.

"**I said enough!" I'd snapped in a voice low enough that I hoped my words couldn't be overheard by everyone else. "Get it together, Stevie Rae. You've had enough from Aphrodite. Drink. This. Now." I distinctly separated the words, and then I shoved the blood and win mixture into her hands. **

**A change came over her face and she blinked and looked unfocused. I guided the glass to her lips, and as soon as the scent of it hit her, she started gulping in down. She was drinking greedily-**

Stevie Rae looked really disturbed. Great my future looked like hell, full of the usual bullpoopie and more bullpoopie.

**So I'd allowed myself a second to glance over at Aphrodite. Still in Darius's arms, she looked okay, though more than a little dazed, and she was staring wide-eyes at Stevie Rae.**

The Twins began giggling.

I looked over to them questioningly.

"Sounds like someone's in love," Shaunee said wagging her eyebrows.

"Do not even joke about that," Aphrodite said in a flat voice.

**I'd felt a prickle of unease skitter down my spine at the shocked expression on Aphrodite's face, which turned out to be an accurate premonition of weirdness to come. But then I turned my attention to my gawking friends. "Damien," I made my voice sharp. "Stevie Rae needs a shirt. Can you find her one?"**

"**The laundry basket. There're clean shirts in it," Stevie Rae said between gulps. She sounded and looked more like herself again. With a shaky hand she gestured to a pile of stuff. Damien nodded and hurried across the room.**

"**Let me see your wrist," Darius said to Aphrodite.**

Damien rose his eyebrows at that and Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at the book- did I miss something?

**Without speaking she'd turned her back to the staring Twins and Jack and gave her arm to Darius, so I had been the only one who really saw what he did. The warrior lifted her wrist to his mouth. Without taking his eyes form hers, his tongue snaked out and ran over the ridge of the bite marks that were still dripping scarlet. Her breath caught, and I saw that she was trembling, but the moment his tongue touched the wound the bleeding began to clot. I had been watching closely, so I didn't miss the way Darius's eyes had widened suddenly in surprise.**

Aphrodite was staring wide-eyed at the book, but she shook her head and muttered something about 'no proof'.

What the hell's wrong with her?

"**Well shit," I heard Aphrodite say softly to him. "It's true, isn't it?"**

"**It is true," he answered her in a low voice meant for her alone.**

"**Shit!" Aphrodite repeated, looking upset.**

"No, no fucking way..." Aphrodite muttered in a low voice.

**Darius smiled, and I saw a definite glint of amusement in his eyes. Then he kissed her wrist gently and said, "No matter; it will not affect us."**

Aphrodite looked relieved? This is getting really confusing; maybe I should just ignore her reactions...

"**Promise," She whispered.**

"**I give you my word. You did well, my beauty. Your blood saved her life."**

**For a moment I saw Aphrodite's unguarded expression. She shook her head slightly and her smile was tinged with honest wonder and more than a little sarcasm. "And why the hell I have to keep saving Stevie Rae's country-bumpkin ass I do not know. All I can say is that I used to be really, **_**really, **_**bad, so I have an unbelievable amount of shit I have to make up for." She cleared her throat and ran the back of her hand shakily across her forehead.**

Aphrodite shook her head, "You owe me bumpkin- you owe me big time."

Damien shook his head, "No yet she doesn't. And if we're planning it right, hopefully she won't have to owe you."

"**Do you need something to drink?" I asked, wondering what the hell the two of them were talking about, but not wanting to ask just then because they obviously didn't want the whole room to know.**

"**Yes." Stevie Rae surprised me by answering for her. **

Aphrodite's eyes narrowed again, "No fucking way," she murmured- again only I was near enough to hear her.

"**Here's a shirt," Damien said. He'd approached the bed, saw that Stevie Rae, who had gone from gulping to sipping the glass, was partially naked, and averted his eyes.**

"You know most guys would totally take advantage of that," Shaunee said.

"Maybe it's because he's a gentleman?" I said defending my friend.

"Or, he could gay and not interested- but if it were 'totally hot' Eric on the other hand..." Erin trailed off suggestively.

I started reading before things got out of hand.

"**Thanks." I gave him a quick smile, took the shirt from him, and tossed it to Stevie Rae. Then I looked back at the Twins. The swallows of blood had begun to work in my body, and the exhaustion that had pressed down on me since I'd had to call all five of the elements and control them while we escaped from the House of Night finally had lessened enough for me to think again. "Okay, guys, bring the blood and wine over here. Do you have another glass for Aphrodite?"**

**Before they could answer Aphrodite spoke up, "Uh, no blood for me. I have one word for that: disgusting. But I will take the booze."**

"Oh yeah, I'm human again..." Aphrodite sulked.

"**We didn't bring another glass," Erin said. "She'll have to drink out of the bottle like a peasant."**

"**Sorry, kinda," Shaunee said insincerely, handing Aphrodite the bottle.**

"**So, as a human, can you explain to us what it's like to get your blood sucked by a vamp?"**

Aphrodite scowled and glared at the Twins.

"**Yeah, inquiring minds wanted to know 'cause you looked like you were liking it, and we didn't know you swung that way," Erin said.**

The look on Aphrodite's face screamed 'I'm gonna kill you!'

"Play nice," Stevie Rae interjected.

"Stay out of it Bumpkin," Aphrodite retorted.

I sighed, was reading this book really necessary? From the ways things are going, it's probably gonna be worse....

"**Did you brain-sharers not pay any attention in Vamp Soc class?" Aphrodite said before she tipped up the bottle and drank from it.**

"**Well, I've read the physiology section of the **_**Fledging Handbook**_**." Damien said. "Vampyre saliva has coagulants, anticoagulants, and endorphins that act of the pleasure zones of the brain, human and vamp. You know, Aphrodite is right. You two really should pay better attention in class. School's supposed to be more than a social event." He finished primly while Jack nodded enthusiastically.**

"Did you just agree with _Aphrodite_?" Shaunee gaped.

"Twin, he's been brainwashed..." Erin shook her head.

"**You know, Twin, what with all the drama going on above- the release of an evil fallen angel and his goons- and the House of Night pretty much in panic mode, there might not be school for a while," Shaunee said.**

"**Excellent point, Twin," Erin said. "Which means we won't need Queen Damien and his tutorness for a while."**

"**So we could, I dunno, hold him down and pull out his hair? What do you think?" Shaunee asked.**

"**Sounds like fun," Erin answered.**

Meanwhile Damien was slowly backing away from the Twins.

"**Great. I'm drinking cheap red wine out of a bottle. Miss Teen Country Vamp just bit me- again. And now I'm gonna be witness to a nerd herd rumble." Sounding much more like her bitchy self, Aphrodite sighed dramatically and plopped down on the end of the bed next to Darius. "Well, at least being human means I can probably get drunk. Maybe I can stay that way for the next ten years or so." **

"Oh goodie..."

"**I don't have enough wine for that." We all looked up as a red fledgling entered the room, followed by several others who clustered behind her in the shadows. "And that isn't **_**cheap **_**red wine. I don't do cheap anything."**

"Great," Aphrodite groaned, "Venus..."

**Everyone else turned their attention to the red fledgling as she spoke, but I'd been watching Aphrodite gripe at the Twins (and was getting ready to step in and tell everyone to shut up), so I saw the brief flash of what looked like a mixture of embarrassment and discomfort cross Aphrodite's face before she got a handle of her expression and said coolly, "Nerd herd, this is Venus. Dorkamese Twins and Damien, you should remember my ex-roommate who died about six months or so ago."**

"**Actually, it seems reports of my death were premature," the pretty blonde said smoothly. Then something totally bizarre happened. Venus paused and sniffed the air. I mean she literally lifted her chin and took several short, sharp sniffs in Aphrodite's general direction. The red fledglings that still clustered together behind her followed her lead, and I watched them sniff, too. Then Venus's blue eyes widened and in a very amused voice she said, "Well....well.....well....how interesting."**

"Oh fuck.." Aphrodite sighed.

"**Venus, do not-" Stevie Rae began, but Aphrodite cut her off.**

"**No. It doesn't matter. Everyone might as well know."**

**With a mean smile the blonde continued, "**

Then I stopped reading and stared at the book.

"What?" Aphrodite asked me.

I didn't answer me but continued staring at the book in disbelief- it couldn't be possible, no way.

"Hello?" Shaunee asked waving her hand in front of my face.

"Anyone home?" Erin said.

Then finally I looked up and stared at Stevie Rae.

"What?" Stevie Rae asked defensively, "Ok I bite Aphrodite again- but she stuck her bloody hand in my face- what else did I do?"

"What's going on Zoey? Remember- all this hasn't happened yet," Damien reminded me.

Damien yanked the book out of my hands and read, then his eyes widened and he looked at Aphrodite, and then at Stevie Rae, and back at Aphrodite. "Oh my god,"

"What? Spit it out already!" Shaunee said impatiently.

"C'mon, tell us already!" Erin continued.

Aphrodite grabbed the book from Damien and began reading out loud for everyone's sake.

**With a mean smile the blonde continued, "I was just going to say how interesting it is that Stevie Rae and Aphrodite have Imprinted." **

Aphrodite stared at the book in shock. "Fuck, I thought I was wrong."

So that's why she was acting weird before....

"WHAT?" The twins shouted.

Stevie Rae looked at Aphrodite. Both of them didn't say or do anything- except gawk at each other.

This is going to get really complicated, not to mention awkward, ah hell.

* * *

Well finally finsih this one. Review?


	5. Chapter 5

And hello! No I'm not dead... I'm back from a year-and-a-half-long hiatus.

Want to hear my excuses? Probably not, since they probably suck worse than Kakashi's (for those of you who aren't familiar with Naruto, Kakashi's excuses for being late consists of 'I got lost on the path of life' and 'A black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way').

Basically I wrote this story while I was on vacation (don't ask me how i found time to, I just did), but when I finally got back to Australia...I lost my inspiration. But now, after reading it over- I felt like I have to continue it.

Because my long absence, I'm sure you'd find that my writing style has changed a little (or a lot), I hope you would still like it.

So here's the next chapter!

* * *

Imprinted? Like imprinted, imprinted?

I scanned the room; everyone had looks of shock on their faces. Minus Aphrodite and Stevie Rae- who seemed to have subconsciously edged away from each other.

"Well then...uh.." Damien began awkwardly, "I guess I'll continue reading- unless anyone else wants to?"

Everyone shook their heads, I quickly followed. Any more drama in this book and I'm going to either have a heart attack or someone's gonna end up ripping someone else's throat out.

**Chapter Four**

"**I had to clamp my jaws shut to keep form gasping along with the Twins.**

I shrugged at Stevie Rae guiltily.

"**Ohmigod! Imprinted! Really?" Jack blurted.**

"I hate him already," Aphrodite said in the 'matter-of-fact' voice that she used when insulting someone.

Stevie Rae scowled, "Be nice."

"Well sorry, not everyone can't be saints like you, Your _Bumpkin-ness," _Aphrodite sneered.

"Maybe not- but at least I'm not a bitch!" Stevie Rae bit back.

I blinked in shock, since when did Stevie Rae stand up to Aphrodite? Not that I'm against that...but, where did that come from?

"Rather be a bitch than a-

"Alright! Can't you guys not argue for more than 5 seconds? We've only read 2 lines of the chapter!" I intervened before it got ugly.

**Aphrodite shrugged, "Apparently."**

Now why can't Aphrodite act like her book self...She seems so much nicer.

**I thought she looked way too nonchalant, and she was totally avoiding even glancing in Stevie Rae's direction, but I think almost everyone else in the room was fooled by her 'whatever' attitude.**

"**Well, spank me and call me your baby!" Shaunee said.**

"**Make that double spanking, Twin," Erin chimed in. And then the two of them burst into semi-hysterical giggles.**

"**I think it's interesting," Damien spoke up so he could be heard of the cackling Twins.**

"Well I think your sexuality is interesting," Aphrodite retorted.

Shaunee snorted, "*cough*!"

"-Who's the one imprinted to a girl?" Erin finished.

"Good grief! Were ya'll brought up by wolves or somethin'? Grow up!" Stevie Rae burst out.

Ah hell...Who's great idea was it to read this again? If anything it'll probably make the future worse...

"**Me, too," Jack said, "In a freaky Ohmigod way."**

"I stand by my statement. I hate him already," Aphrodite said crossing her arms in a huff.

"**Sounds like Karma has finally caught up with Aphrodite," Venus said with a sneer that made her beauty turn reptilian.**

I heard a few half-muffled giggles here and there.

"**Venus, Aphrodite just saved my life. Again. And it's really not right that you're being ugly to her," Stevie Rae said.**

**Aphrodite finally looked at Stevie Rae, "Do **_**not **_**start doing that."**

"**Doin' what?" Stevie Rae asked.**

"**Standing up for me! We have somefuckinghow Imprinted, and that's bad enough. But Do. Not. Go. All. BFF. On. Me!" she said slowly and distinctly.**

"Hm...Maybe the brain damage isn't as bad as I thought," Aphrodite muttered.

"**Your bein' hateful will not change this," Stevie Rae said. **

"**Look, I'm just going to play like **_**this **_**never happened." A wave of giggles from the Twins had Aphrodite glaring in their way. "Dorkamese Twins, I will figure out a way to smother both of you while you sleep if you do not stop laughing at me."**

"And that threat holds true in this reality too," Aphrodite said glaring at the Twins, who had gotten over their shock and had started giggling like mad.

**Naturally, the Twins erupted into louder guffaws.**

**Turning her back on the, Aphrodite faced me, "So, like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted times ten: pain-in-the-ass Venus, this is Zoey, the super fledgling I'm sure you've heard so much about, and Darius, the Son of Erebus warrior who you will **_**not **_**be sneaking around with-**

At this, everyone except Aphrodite chuckled in amusement.

"Oh come on, you have to admit, that was a little funny," I said, but all she did was glare. Wow, that Imprint thing must've really messed with her head.

**-and Jack. He won't be sneaking around with you, either, but mostly because he's as gay as a French pastry. His other half is Damien, the guy who is staring at me like a fucking science project. You already know that the Twins are the laughing heads over there."**

**I could feel Venus's eyes on me, so I managed to tear my gaze from Aphrodite (Imprinted! To Stevie Rae!)**

I wanted to sink into a hole right about now. Why, oh why, did this book have to be in my thoughts?

**To look at her. Sure enough, she was staring at me with an intense expression that made me instantly defensive. I was still trying to decide whether my negative reaction to Venus was because she was (obviously) a bitch-**

"Nice observation skills," Aphrodite interrupted dryly.

"Aren't you two friends or something?" I reminded her.

"Or something," She replied, but did not elaborate further.

Now I'm curious, what exactly did _that _mean? Nah, maybe I'm just thinking too much into things.

**-Because she has been skulking around the tunnels with Erik, or because I had a bad feeling about the red fledglings in general when she spoke up.**

"**Zoey and I have already met, but it was unofficial. Seems last time I saw her she was trying to kill us."**

I blinked, "What? Damien, can you repeat that because I thought I heard you say something about me trying to kill someone."

"Uh...That's what is says," Damien confirmed.

I stared at the book for the millionth time that day, this time in fear. What happened to me? Apparently this was only a few months away; what happened to that time frame? Exactly what occurred that changed us all so that we're almost unrecognisable?

The others shifted uncomfortably before Damien began reading again.

"**I put a hand on my hip and met her cold, blue-eyed stare, "While we're taking a trip down Memory Lane, you might want to get a clue. **_**I **_**wasn't trying to kill anyone. **_**I **_**was trying to save a human kid you guys were going to eat. Unlike you, **_**I **_**would have much rather been at IHOP munching on chocolate chip pancakes than football players."**

I let out a sigh of relief at Damien's words. Looks like I don't become a heartless killer after all, but the situation made me no less nervous. Ah hell, this really sucks.

"**That doesn't make the girl you killed any less dead," Venus said as the red fledglings behind her stirred restlessly. **

And...there goes the feeling of relief. I killed someone...No...I _will _kill someone. That didn't sound too reassuring either…ah hell, what is with my life?

"**Z? You killed someone?" Jack asked. **

Something in my stomach stirred uneasily...I killed someone...

**I opened my mouth to answer, but Venus beat me to it, "She did. Elizabeth No Last Name."**

We all gasped. Elizabeth...The girl in my drama class...The girl that died not too long ago...

_I _killed her...I _killed _her...

"Z? Zoey? Are you ok?" Stevie Rae asked gently placing a hand on my shoulder.

"She was dead anyway..." Aphrodite muttered. In retrospect, I suppose she was trying to help but the words came out wrong and we all took it the wrong way.

"How can you be so heartless?" I demanded angrily.

"Yeah! Talking about someone dying-" Shaunee began.

"- So nonchalantly like that!" Erin finished.

"Hey!" Aphrodite cried in defence, "It's true, I'm just stating the facts, if you can't take the truth than it isn't my problem."

The Twins looked ready to strangle her, and I was sure I looked the same. But two hands held me back.

"Enough, everyone just calm down," Damien said slowly.

"You two as well, let's just relax and we'll save any fightin' till after the book is finished," Stevie Rae said.

"**I had to," I said simply, speaking to Jack and ignoring Venus and the red fledglings even though something about them had the little hairs on the neck of my neck standing on end. "They weren't letting Heath and me out of here alive." Then I turned my attention back to Venus. She had an icy beauty. Venus was sleep and sexy in a pair of tight designer jeans and a simple cropped black tank that had a rhinestone skull's head on it. Her hair was long and thick and the kind of blond that looked golden. In other words, she was definitely attractive enough to hang out with Aphrodite, which was saying something, because Aphrodite is totally gorgeous. **

At this, I noticed Aphrodite smirking slightly. Well, at least I know I had a reason to kill someone. If someone threatened Heath, I would do it. I think...

**And, like Aphrodite used to be, Venus was obviously a hateful bitch, and probably had been one before she died and un-died. I narrowed my eyes at her, "Look, I told you guys to back off and let us out here. You didn't. I did what I had to then to protect someone I cared about- and you all should know I'd do it again." My eyes shifted from Venus to the fledglings behind her while I stifled the urge to reach for a couple of elements and have wind and fire put a little added punch to my threat. **

**Venus glared back at me. **

"**Okay, y'all have got to learnt to get along. Are you remembering that the entire outside world might be against us, or at least filled with scary booger monsters?" Stevie Rae sounded tired by herself. She sat up, gingerly straightening her Dixie Chicks T-shirt-**

At this, the Twins made a face.

"We're going to have to talk about your wardrobe girl," Shaunee said.

"Uh-huh, it's going to need some serious-

"-I'm fine with what I wear and I don't want you two buying me new clothes," Stevie Rae interrupted Erin.

Aphrodite looked like she wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut.

**And slowly leaned back against the pillows Darius propped behind her, "So, like Tim Gunn on **_**Project Runaway **_**would say, let's make it work."**

"**Ooooh, I love that show," Jack gushed.**

**I heard a couple of the red fledglings mumble agreement and decided Stevie Rae might had had a point during one of our many trash TV arguments: Reality shows could make the world a better place and bring peace to all mankind. **

"**Making it work sounds good to me." Even though my internal alarm was still warning me that all was not sweetness and light with the red fledglings, I smiled at Stevie Rae, who dimpled back at me. Okay, she obviously believed we could figure out a way to get along. So maybe my alarm system was misfiring simply because Venus was a hateful bitch, and not because she and the rest of them were evil incarnate. **

"Zoey, you are so dramatic sometimes," Damien said fondly.

"**Good. So first, could I please have a refill of that blood and wine? Heavy on the blood part." She held her empty glass out towards the Twins, who gratefully moved closer to Stevie Rae's bed and farther away from the group of red fledglings. I noticed Damien and Jack, with Duchess by his side, had also managed to make their way over to where I was standing. "Thanks," She said when Erin took her glass. "And there're some scissors in the drawer over there so you don't have to rip it open with your teeth." She gave me a little eye roll. While Erin and Shaunee were busy getting Stevie Rae more bloody wine, **

Erin gave a slight chuckled.

Shaunee's eyebrows rose, "Something funny Twin?"

"Nothing, it's just the way it's phrased 'bloody wine', it actually sounds like Zoey was cussing," Erin explained.

I rolled my eyes as they sniggered over my unusual lack of cursing in my vocabulary.

"**She studied the little group of red fledglings, "Look, we already talked about this. You know ya'll are gonna have to make nice with Zoey and the rest of the kids." She glanced up at Darius and smiled, "Well, kids and vamps, that is."**

"**Hey, excuse me, guys, I need to get through."**

**I bristled automatically as ****Erik pushed through the crowd at the door. If someone (Venus)****tried to bite him, someone (me) was gonna kick her ass. Period.****Ignoring the tension in the room, Darius said, "What does the radio report is happening in the****world above?"**

**Erik shook his head. "I can't get anything in. I even went up into the basement. Nothing but static. Couldn't get my cell phone to work, either. I did hear a bunch of thunder and could see flashings of massive lightning. It's still raining, even though it's getting colder, which means it'll probably turn to ice. Plus, the wind's kicked up like crazy. I couldn't tell if the weather was natural, or if Kalona and those bird things. **

Well hell, that doesn't sound good.

"Can anything else go wrong?" I groaned.

"Hey look on the bright side Z," Stevie said in a half-hearted attempt to be cheerful.

"What bright side?" Aphrodite interjected, "Bird freaks have taken over town and the entire place seems like a scene from an old horror movie."

I have to admit, she does have a point. Wow. The future must be _really _bad for me to agree with Aphrodite so much lately.

"**How are things here?"**

**"Aphrodite saved her by letting Stevie Rae drink her blood," Shaunee said, and then giggled.**

**"Yeah, and now the two of them have Imprinted," Erin finished in a rush, and then joined**

**Shaunee's laughter.**

**"Wow, you're kidding. Right?" he said, sounding totally shocked.**

**"No, they are not kidding," Venus said smoothly.**

I heard Aphrodite mumbled something about killing Venus even though she was already dead. Huh…Weird relationship between Aphrodite and her friends.

**"Huh. Well. That's interesting." I watched Erik's lips twitch as he stared at Aphrodite. She totally ignored him and kept drinking straight from the wine bottle she clutched in her hand. He stifled a big laugh with a cough, **

Aphrodite's lip curled into a cruel grimace as her delicate eyebrow twitched. Seems like more people are going to die after we read this.

**and then his eyes lit on Venus. He nodded, his normal easygoing, popular self. "Hi again, Venus."**

I resisted the urge to blanch.

**"Erik," she said, with a feral smile that made me want to squash her like a bug.**

That thought still held true in this reality…

**"Aphrodite was right to start introductions," Stevie Rae said, and before Aphrodite could, she hurried on, "And, no, I'm not saying that because we're Imprinted."**

"Stop talking about it…" Aphrodite muttered.

"You're talkin' to a book," Stevie Rae pointed out.

Aphrodite said nothing but glared at her.

**"I really wish you would all quit talking about it," Aphrodite muttered.**

**Stevie Rae continued as if she hadn't heard her. "I think being polite is a real good idea, and introductions are always polite. Y'all already know Venus," she said, and then moved on quickly. "So I'll start with Elliott." A redheaded kid stepped forward. Okay, dying and un-dying hadn't improved this kid any.**

"Zoey, I'm sure your grandma taught you to be nicer than this," Stevie Rae frowned disapprovingly at me.

I shrugged sheepishly, "Hey, I'm human too," I said defensively.

**He was still pudgy and pale with a frizzy ball of carrot-colored, uncombed**

**hair sticking up in odd places on his head. "I'm Elliott," he said.**

"Ok, I agree with Zoey on this one," Shaunee said as she made a face.

"Ditto Twin," Erin grimaced.

**Everyone nodded at him. "Next is Montoya," Stevie Rae said.**

**A short, Hispanic guy who looked seriously thuggish with his sagging pants and his multiple piercings nodded his head, sending his thick dark hair waving around his face. "Hi," he said with just a touch of an accent and a surprisingly cute, warm smile.**

The Twins seemed to perk up the description.

**"And that's Shannon Compton." Stevie Rae ran her first and last name together, so that it sounded like Shannoncompton.**

"By the way, that's written as one word," Damien clarified.

**"Shannoncompton? Hey, didn't you read the spotlight piece in The Vagina Monologues last year at the school performance?" Damien asked.**

The Twins chuckled and even I had to raise my eyebrows at the name.

Damien however, just merely ignored us.

**Her pretty face brightened. "Yeah, that was me."**

**"I remember because I just love The Vagina Monologues. They're so empowering," Damien said. **

Shaunee and Erin erupted into full blown laughter as Damien continued to read over them.

**"And then right after the show you...um..." His voice trailed off and he fidgeted.**

**"I died?" Shannoncompton added helpfully.**

**"Yeah, exactly," Damien said.**

Well that was blunt, but I suppose there really was no way to put that delicately. I mean, how to do say 'you died' in a not-so-tactless way?

**"Oh, gosh, that's too bad," Jack said.**

**Aphrodite sighed. "She's not dead anymore, morons."**

**"And this is Sophie." Stevie Rae said quickly, frowning at Aphrodite, who was already sounding tipsy. A tall brunette stepped a little forward and gave us a tentative friendly smile. "Hi," she said.**

**We waved and muttered hellos. I was actually feeling better about the red fledglings now that they were becoming individuals-and not individuals who were trying to chomp on us. Or at least at that moment they weren't.**

Stevie Rae looked a little nervous at that.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they're fine," I assured her, though I wasn't too sure myself.

**"Dallas is next." Stevie Rae pointed to a kid standing behind Venus. At the sound of his name he kinda slouched around her and mumbled what sounded like a version of hi. He would have been totally unremarkable looking if it hadn't been for the quick intelligence in his eyes and the kinda flirty smile he threw Stevie Rae. Hm, I thought, wonder if something's going on there?**

"Ooh, New boyfriend?" Shaunee teased.

"We'll have to check him out right away," Erin said with a glint in her sparkling blue eyes.

**"Dallas was born in Houston, which we all think is odd and confusing," Stevie Rae was saying. The kid shrugged. "It's a gross story my dad tells about him and my mom making me in Dallas. I never wanted the details."**

"Ugh…Parent sex," Shaunee grimaced.

"Disgusting, totally off-limits," Erin added.

**"Ugh, parent sex," Shaunee said.**

**"Completely disgusting," Erin agreed.**

"Have I mentioned that you two don't seem to have changed at all?" I spoke up.

The Twins looked at me, and then at each other and shrugged casually.

**I could see a little laugh ripple through the group of red fledglings at the Twins' comments, making the tension that had been hanging between our two groups begin to really loosen up.**

"See, we're useful," Shaunee commented.

"Uh-huh, totally no awkwardness when we're around," Erin added.

"Which is about the _only _thing you'reuseful for," Aphrodite sniped, but the amusement in her eyes made it hard to find her words offensive. Huh…Maybe she wasn't that bad after all.

**"Next is Anthony, who everyone calls Ant."**

**Ant waved awkwardly at us and said hi. Well, it was obvious why everyone called him Ant. He was one of those little kids. You know, the ones that look, like, ten when they're really fourteen and supposed to have gone through puberty already. Then, as if to provide the biggest contrast possible, Stevie Rae moved on to the next kid. "This is Johnny B."**

**Johnny B was tall and built. He reminded me of Heath with his athletic body and the easy**

**confidence with which he held himself. "Hey," he said, flashing white teeth and obviously**

**checking out the Twins, who raised their brows at him and checked him out right back. **

"Damn Stevie Rae, looks like you're surrounded by hotties in the future," Shaunee said in mock-envy.

"Yeah, but you just had to imprint on the hag," Erin supplied as both dissolved into Twin giggles.

Both Aphrodite and Stevie Rae glared at them.

Damien sighed, "Children, stop arguing."

All four made a face at him.

**"Next is Gerarty. She's the best artist I've ever known. She's started to decorate parts of the tunnels. It's gonna look majorly cool when she gets done." Stevie Rae beamed at yet another blonde, only Gerarty wasn't all tall and Barbie-like. She was pretty, but her blond hair was more dishwater than platinum, and cut in a seventies shag. She nodded at us and looked uncomfortable.**

**"And last but not least is Kramisha."**

**A black girl twitched out of the group. It was a testament to how distracted I'd been with Venus and Aphrodite and Stevie Rae that I hadn't noticed her before then. She had on a form-fitting bright yellow shirt cut low to show the top of her black lace bra and a pair of high-waisted, skintight cropped jeans that were cinched up with a wide leather belt that matched her chunky gold shoes. Her hair was cut geometrically into a short poof on her head, and half of it was dyed bright orange.**

The Twins and Aphrodite made a face.

"And here I thought the bumpkin's fashion sense was bad," Aphrodite said.

"Huh…I'm agreeing with Aphrodite…Again…" Shaunee muttered slowly as if not understanding her thought process.

"Me too Twin…Me too," Erin agreed and whispered not-to-quietly to Shaunee in a tone that screamed _'conspiracy!_', "Twin…Do you reckon she bewitched us too? First Zoey, then Stevie Rae—it was only a matter of time before we were next!"

"Tragic, Twin, just tragic," Shaunee echoed the statement Erin said earlier that day.

"Would ya'll quit it with what I wear already?" Stevie Rae grumbled.

**"Let's get it straight right now that I'm not sharin' my bed with no one," Kramisha said, weaving her head around and looking bored and pissed off at the same time.**

"**Kramisha, I told you about a zillion times, don't make an issue outta somethin' that isn't one," Stevie Rae said.**

**"I just want to be clear about myself," Kramisha said.**

**"Fine. You're clear." Stevie Rae paused and looked up at me expectantly. "Okay, that's my**

**group."**

**"And these are the extent of the red fledglings?" Darius asked before I could launch into my introductions.**

**Stevie Rae chewed the inside of her cheek and didn't meet Darius's eyes. "Yeah, these are all of my red fledglings."**

**Ah oh, that's her I'm-not-telling-the-whole-truth look. I knew it, but when she met my eyes, hers so clearly begged me not to say anything that I decided to keep my mouth shut and get the whole story when we weren't the focus of everybody's attention.**

Aw poopie….That doesn't sound good. So there could be more of these fledglings around, now that wasn't a bad thing in itself, but it had to be bad for Stevie Rae to hide it.

**But me putting off questioning Stevie Rae didn't put off the feeling that had come back, alarm bells ringing inside my head, loud and clear, at her evasion. There was definitely something going on with the red fledglings, and I didn't think that something was going to be good.**

I guess my future thoughts echoed my current thoughts almost exactly.

**I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm Zoey Redbird." I tried to sound polite and normal in a situation that didn't feel either.**

**"I've told y'all about Zoey. She has an affinity for all five elements, and it's through her powers that I was able to Change and we were all given our humanity back," Stevie Rae said. I noticed she was looking directly at Venus.**

**"Well, it wasn't just through me that happened. My friends had a lot to do with it, too." I**

**nodded at Aphrodite, who was still drinking directly from the bottle of wine. "You guys**

**obviously know Aphrodite. She's a human now, but let's just say she's not normal," I said,**

**completely avoiding the subject of her fresh Imprint with Stevie Rae.**

Aphrodite seemed annoyed at the mere reference to it.

**Aphrodite snorted, but didn't say anything.**

**"This is Erin and Shaunee, the Twins. Erin has an affinity for water, Shaunee's affinity is fire."**

**The Twins nodded and said hi.**

**"Damien and Jack are a couple," I said. "Damien's affinity is air. Jack is our audiovisual guy."**

**"Hi," Damien said.**

**"Hey there," Jack said. He lifted the bag he was still carrying. "I made sandwiches. Anyone**

**hungry?"**

**"Can someone explain why that dog's in here?" Venus said, totally ignoring Jack's friendly**

**overture.**

**"She's here 'cause she's mine," Jack said. "She stays with me." He reached down and petted Duchess's soft ears.**

**"Duchess stays with Jack," I said firmly, giving Venus a hard look and thinking that I could**

**happily strangle her with Duchess's leash before I continued with the intros.**

"Wow Z, you got a major case of green-eye going on," Erin grinned.

"Not that it isn't totally justified of course," Shaunee added. Though the both of them looked pretty amused.

**"And this is Erik Night."**

**"I remember you from drama class," Shannoncompton said, her cheeks turning pink. "You're really famous."**

**"Hi, Shannon." Erik smiled easily at her. "Nice to see you again."**

**"I remember you, too. You were with Aphrodite," Venus said.**

**"Not anymore," Aphrodite said quickly, giving Darius a look.**

**"Obviously. You're not a fledgling anymore," Venus said in a silky voice that sounded way too interested. "When did you Change?"**

**"Just a few days ago," he said. "I was on my way to the Europe an acting academy when**

**Shekinah asked that I take Professor Nolan's place temporarily at the House of Night."**

**"Wow, I knew that High Priestess looked familiar. That was actually Shekinah!"**

"Whoa! Shekinah came to _our _House of Night?" Damien said sounding awed.

"Who?" I asked puzzled about the fuss.

"Sha—who now?" Shaunee asked echoing my question.

"No Twin…I think it was Shek-…something," Erin corrected half way.

"Don't any of you pay attention in class?" Damien looked at little annoyed, but thoroughly amused, "Shekinah, the High Priestess of _all _the High Priestesses."

Whoa…I wonder what someone as important as her was doing at our school.

**Shannoncompton said. "I saw her just before she started toward that winged guy and-" She stopped talking and picked at her lip worriedly.**

**"And she was killed by Neferet," I bluntly finished for her.**

"WHAT?" All of us, including Aphrodite, shrieked.

"Ok, Neferet has definitely gone to the deep end," Stevie Rae said.

I stared at the book in shock, ok, I guess I'd already found out that my mentor was going to be major trouble—but this, this was beyond anything else she did (or will do).

**"Was she? Do you know that for certain?" Darius asked.**

**"She's dead and I saw Neferet do it. I think she killed her with her mind," I said.**

**"Queen Tsi Sgili," Damien murmured. "It's true then."**

**"I need all of this explained to me," Darius said curtly.**

We agreed with his sentiments completely, right now nothing made sense.

**"And this is our Son of Erebus warrior, Darius," I said.**

**"He's right," Stevie Rae said. "We need what happened to night explained to us."**

**"Not just to night's happenings," Darius said. His gaze rested on the group of unusual fledglings. "I need information if I am to protect you. I must know everything that has been going on."**

**"Agreed," I said, glad beyond words that we had an experienced Son of Erebus in our group.**

I really could've used one last year when I faced those evil undead spirits...

**"We could eat and talk," Jack said. When I looked at him, he gave me a big smile. "It always helps to eat with each other. A meal makes things better."**

**"Unless you're the meal," I heard Aphrodite mutter.**

**"Jack's right," Stevie Rae said. "Why don't y'all go grab some of the egg crates we have in the kitchen and some bags of chips and whatnot. Let's eat while we talk."**

**"Would the whatnot be more blood?" Venus said.**

**"Yes, it would," Stevie Rae said matter-of-factly, clearly not wanting to make a big deal out of the blood issue.**

**"Fine. I'll go get some more," Venus said.**

**"Hey, while you're getting blood, grab me another bottle of wine," Aphrodite said.**

**"You know I'm not into charity, so you'll be paying me back," Venus said.**

**"I remember," Aphrodite said. "And you should remember that I pay my debts."**

**"Yeah, that's how you used to be, but seems you've made a change," she said.**

**"No shit? You mean you just now noticed I turned human?"**

**"Not what I was talking about. So just replace the wine," she added before leaving the room.**

The look on Aphrodite's face grew colder at Venus' words, but a little flash of pain also lingered in her eyes. Now I _really _wanted to know what happened between them.

**"Hey, weren't y'all roomies?" Stevie Rae asked Aphrodite.**

**Aphrodite ignored Stevie Rae and I had the urge to shake her and yell, Not talking to her or looking at her is not going to break your Imprint with her.**

**"Yes, they were," Erik said into the dead air, reminding me that because he and Aphrodite used to be together, he would know her roommate, maybe too well.**

**"Yeah, well, things change." Aphrodite found her voice.**

**"People change," I said, pulling my gaze from Erik.**

**Aphrodite met my eyes. Her lips curled up in a sad, sarcastic smile. "And that is too damn true," she said.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Damien said.

I let out a tired breath, "Let's hope the rest of the chapter isn't so full angst or else I'll start to get desperate and break the door down…"

Aphrodite glared at me, "You'll be paying for it."


	6. Chapter 6

I highly doubt many of you are still reading, but if there's just one of you, I've got a plot developed for this story now, so it's not just a pointless 'wow-we-found-the-books-and-just-read-it-the-end' type story.

* * *

"Ok, so…who wants to read the next chapter?" Damien asked.

I looked around the room, the Twins weren't likely to volunteer, and Aphrodite seemed to be sulking more than usual, so it was either me or Stevie Rae. But before either of us could answer a large gust of wind almost knocked me over.

_The hell? _I thought frantically, wind was definitely not natural indoors. The last time a large gust of wind appeared indoors, I ended up stuck in Aphrodite's room. This cannot be good. As the wind died down, I realized that there were six more people in the room. Six people who were practically identical to us.

"What the fuck?" Aphrodite demanded, saying the one thing on everyone's mind. But something was off about her, I couldn't quite place my finger on it…

"What the hell? Who the hell are you and why do you look like me!" Aphrodite (the one beside me) asked.

I looked at the one that spoke first, and then at the one beside me. One of them had a blue crescent moon on their forehead—the other one didn't.

"Oh no..." Someone else muttered, "Did we do the spell wrong?"

I gaped at the person who spoke in shock…she looked exactlylike me. Well not _exactly, _but minus a few tattoos and maybe a year or so and we could pass as twins, hell we could pass as twins now.

"I think we did," The familiar southern twang startled me. I could tell it was Stevie Rae, but not the one I knew.

"Um…Twin…I'm seeing _my _twin," Shaunee said slowly.

"Uh-huh….So do I…Except older," Erin agreed.

"Hey! I'm not _that _old," the other Erin said indignantly, turning to _her _Shaunee she asked, "Am I Twin?"

"No Twin, you're not old. You're only 17," Shaunee reassured her.

"Ok, would someone please tell me what is going on here?" Damien interrupted, looking at our duplicates with a mixture of fascination and irritation.

I shrugged, "Can't help you there, I have no idea what happened."

My duplicate looked at me, "How old are you?" She asked.

"…um…16," I answered hesitantly.

"Hmm…I think we travelled back in time," My duplicate said slowly.

"Well no shit," Aphrodite practically growled out, "I still have a tattoo," She pointed to the Aphrodite sitting beside me.

"Question is, how did I even lose it in the first place?" The one beside me muttered.

"What happened?" Damien, the one in my time, asked Future Me.

"We were doing a spell to banish Kalo…" She stopped, glancing over at her Damien.

I knew that look, the one that said 'oh crap, I said too much'.

Damien…no, Future Damien shook his head, "We can't say much, in case we change the future—

"—Bit late for that," Aphrodite interrupted, "We've been reading about the future for the past hour or so…"

"What?" He asked confused.

I showed him the book that we'd been reading, "Apparently this is what's going to happen in the future…We were sent her to read it."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "That never happened to us."

"Do you think we changed something?" Future Me asked worriedly.

He shook his head, "No…We only just got here…." His eyes widened as he skimmed through the book, "Zoey, look at this."

I watched Future Me as she read a random page in the book, her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the book in shock. Well it seemed the book really was real after all…ah hell.

"This is…_How?" _She said the word in complete disbelief.

"Well shit," Future Aphrodite said, "Did anyone record what happened? How the fuck did someone manage to get this down so accurately? It's correct to the last word."

"Not just to the last word…To _my _last thought," Future Me said, looking as if she couldn't believe what was on the page she was reading. I could empathise there, the whole book was so accurate, scarily accurate to everyone's behaviour. The fact that someone was watching and recording us to write this book is rather unnerving to say the least.

"We're angsting over a book…." Future Shaunee stated staring at her Damien, Zoey and Aphrodite.

"Can somebody get back to 'how' we travelled a year and a half in the past?" Erin asked.

"I thought that was kind of obvious Dorkamese Twins," Future Aphrodite snapped, "We did a spell to banish that freaky bird-guy and it sent us here."

Freaky Bird Guy? And just when I thought my life couldn't get any weirder.

"Right, so how do we get back?" Future Shaunee asked.

"Right now, I'm more concerned about how this book exists," Future Damien said as he flipped to the front, "Huh…No author, no company, no nothing where all the information is supposed to be. Where did you get this from?"

"It fell on my head," I told him truthfully, "From Aphrodite's ceiling."

He stared at me for a few seconds before turning to Aphrodite, "Where-

"—I had no idea it existed before it knocked Zoey out," Aphrodite interrupted before he could even ask.

"So you guys have been reading it?" He asked cautiously, staring at us…Studying us.

I nodded, "We found the book with this note attached, and the door locked."

Future Damien looked at the note, "The handwriting looks familiar…"

"Really?" Future Me asked in surprise, looking over his shoulder, "Huh…It does…But I don't remember whose it is."

"That's one of my fled—I mean…one of mine," Future Stevie Rae said, cutting herself off mid way, but I knew what she was going to say.

"You mean one of your fledglings?" Damien (from my time) asked.

She stared at us in shock, "How-?"

"We were reading the book," I shrugged, "So It was one of your red fledglings that did this?"

"Kramisha," She answered, "It's definitely her writing, I can recognise it anywhere."

"Now that you mention it…Kramisha's writing does match that," Future Me said, "But why would she do this? And more importantly, how?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Future Aphrodite asked.

We all looked at her. But before she could explain, Future Stevie Rae spoke up.

"You can't be sure, that's just jumping to conclusions," She said.

Aphrodite glared at her, "Don't do that."

"Then stop projecting," She retorted.

"Um…What?" I asked, my face probably mirroring those of my friends (in this timeline), the ones from the future however, looked as though this was normal behaviour.

"Quit it, both of you, we don't have time for this," Future Me sighed and turned to us to explain, "It's the imprint, they can tell what each other is feeling, and sometimes even what the other is thinking. It gets a little annoying sometimes. Anyway, Aphrodite, what were you going to say?"

"I was going to say, the world was going to shit; Kalona practically took over all of Tulsa, Neferet's gone off in the deep end, Shekinah's dead, and we were going to be next. Kramisha probably wrote some prophetic poetry about the world ending and somehow managed to go to the past and decided to change it," Future Aphrodite said.

Things sounded bad from what we were reading, but hearing it from Aphrodite just made it a million times worse. The book never really hit reality, some part of me still hoped it was just a book, but with solid evidence in front of me, it was getting impossible to deny.

"Stevie Rae was right, that is quite presumptuous," Future Damien said thoughtfully, "Even if that was true, just _how _did Kramisha get this book?"

"The girl writes prophetic poetry without realizing it. She probably wrote it in her sleep or something," Future Aphrodite shrugged, "Then how else are you going to explain her writing on the note, that went with the book?"

No one had an answer for that.

"So back to my question," Future Shaunee began.

"—How do we get back?" Future Erin finished for her.

"I suppose we could try the spell that sent us here," Future Me suggested.

"Huh…What's this?" Future Damien thought aloud as he pulled a folded letter from the book.

He read it silently, eyes widening in disbelief as he finished.

"What? What does it say?" I asked in apprehension, what else could go wrong today? Goddess, I did not just asked that…That's just asking for trouble.

"It says, _Welcome Damien, Zoey, Shaunee, Erin, Aphrodite and Stevie Rae. You all would be wondering what you're doing here at the moment, rest assured everything to will sense soon. I'm quite sure that you've all figured out who I am now, after all, you guys could probably open your own detective franchise when all this is over. Just continue reading the book and everything would make sense. _It's signed The First Red Vamp Poet Laureate," Future Damien said.

"Well it's obviously her," Future Me said.

"No…The writing, it doesn't sound like her, it's too…._eloquent. _Kramisha uses more casual and slang when she speaks," Future Stevie Rae pointed out.

"We've got no leads for now, so we might as well continue reading. Where are you guys up to?" Damien directed the question at me.

"Um…Chapter Five, we were just getting introduced to the Red Fledglings," I said.

"Oh great…." Future Aphrodite muttered.

"Aphrodite be nice," Future Stevie Rae frowned at her.

"So…who wants to read?" Damien asked.

"I'll do it," I shrugged taking the book from him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chap 7

Wow, I updated in less than a week, new record :)

Enjoy!

* * *

**"So we have p.b. and j., bologna, and processed American cheese slices." Jack said the 'processed American cheese slices' part like he was reluctantly offering us worms and mud.**

Future Damien chuckled fondly.

**"And my personal gourmet Top Chef concoction: mayonnaise, peanut butter, and lettuce on wheat bread."**

Ok…What? I know my taste in food isn't exactly the best or healthiest, but that sounded a little…experimental.

**"Okay, Jack. Nasty," Shaunee said.**

**"Have you lost your damn mind?" Erin said.**

**"Gay white boy is weird," Kramisha said, snagging one of the bologna and cheese sandwiches.**

**The Twins nodded and made "yep" noises as Kramisha joined them on a nearby egg crate.**

**Jack looked mortally offended. "I think they're good, and you guys should try things before you disrespect them."**

**"I'll try one of them," said Shannoncompton sweetly.**

**"Thanks." Jack grinned and handed her a sandwich wrapped in a paper towel.**

**There was the rustling of a lot of paper as all of us crowded into Stevie Rae's room, grabbed sandwiches, and passed bags of chips around. I was surprised to see the amount of food and chips and brown pop (yea for brown pop!).**

Future Me flushed while everyone snickered.

"How did you manage to get so much food down in the tunnels?" I asked.

"Um…." Future Stevie Rae shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm sure it'll be explained later," Future Me answered.

Huh…that was weird…

**It made a weird, surreal mixture with the bottles of red wine and bags of blood that were being shared. I sat on the bed with Aphrodite and Darius**

**and Stevie Rae, who was looking better and better. For a second, with the normal sounds of kids eating and talking, it was easy to imagine that we were just in a kind of ratty building at the House of Night and forget that we were in a tunnel under the city and that all of our lives were in the process of never being the same. **

"You really are a pessimist," Aphrodite pointed out again, "How the hell did you manage to save people with that attitude?"

"Really?" Future Me wondered thoughtfully.

"You guys only figured that out now? Zoey's always depressed," Future Aphrodite said dismissively.

My friends (the one in my time) looked a little indignant and ready to defend me, but the ones in the future seemed to agree with Aphrodite.

"Hate to say it, but Aprodite is actually right," Future Shaunee said, giving me a sort-of-apologetic shrug.

"Yeah, she does have a point," Future Stevie Rae commented.

**For a second, we were nothing but a group of kids, some friends, some not, and we were just hanging out together. "Tell me what you know of the**

**creature that rose from the earth and the bird beings that followed him." Darius's words made the whole just-hanging-out facade crumple like a house of cards. Great. **

**"Sadly, we don't know as much about him as I wish we did, and what we do know comes from my grandma." I swallowed down the tightness in my throat that mentioning her caused.**

**"Grandma's in a coma, so she can't help us right now."**

"WHAT?" I exclaimed in worry.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Future Me reassured me, Huh…that sounded weird.

**"Oh, Z! I'm so sorry! What happened?" Stevie Rae cried, touching my arm.**

**"The official version is she was in a car accident. The truth is that the accident was caused by the Raven Mockers because she knew too much about them," I said.**

**"Raven Mockers-those are the beings that came out of the earth after the winged man appeared?" Darius said.**

**I nodded. "They're his children-what happened after he raped the women of my grandma's people more than a thousand years ago. When Kalona broke out of the ground their bodies were returned to them."**

"Ok, ew, that is nasty," Stevie Rae made a face.

"That's one way to put it. No wonder they were so creepy," Erin commented.

Strangely enough, Shaunee didn't chime in or make any of their usual 'twin' comments.

**"And you know these things because they are creatures from Cherokee legend?" Darius said.**

**"Actually, we know these things because in the vision Aphrodite had a couple days ago she was shown what we figured out was a prophecy about Kalona returning. It was written in Grandma's handwriting, so we called her-told her about it. She recognized the references and came to the House of Night to help us." I paused, steadying my voice. "That's why the Raven Mockers attacked her."**

Ah Hell…So it's my fault, why's it always me?

"Hey Zoey, it's not your fault you know. We needed help and she gave it to us," Future Stevie Rae nudged Future Me who had an expression that practically mirrored mine on her face.

A half smile appeared on future Me's face, "Thanks…"

Even through everything, it seemed we were still best friends. That's a relief, at least I can still count on my friends even when things get weird.

**"I really wish we had that prophecy," Damien said. "I'd like to take a look at it again now that Kalona has actually been set free."**

**"That's easy enough," Aphrodite said. She took a long drink from her bottle of wine, hiccupped a little, and then recited:**

**"Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise**

**When earth's power bleeds sacred red**

**The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise**

**He shall be washed from his entombing bed**

**Through the hand of the dead he is free**

**Terrible beauty, monstrous sight**

**Ruled again they shall be**

**Women shall kneel to his dark might**

**Kalona's song sounds sweet**

**As we slaughter with cold heat."**

**"Wow! Well done, you!" Jack said, clapping his hands.**

"He...is he always like that?" Aphrodite asked.

"Hey, Jack's a great guy. He's cheerful and happy-go-lucky, but he's a great guy," Future Me defended.

"He sounds exactly like the kind of person we need in times like that," Damien muttered.

"You're just saying that 'cause he's your boyfriend," Shaunee teased.

"Twin's right, you're biased, so not the best judge of character," Erin responded as expected.

**Aphrodite inclined her head regally and said, "Thank you...Thank you...It was nothing. Really."**

**And then went back to her wine.**

**I made a mental note to keep an eye on her drinking. Okay, yeah, she'd been through a bunch of stress lately, and being bitten-twice-by Stevie Rae**

At this point, I noticed that Aphrodite (of my time) looked extremely pissed off, while Future Aphrodite merely looked a little annoyed. Huh, I wonder what changed.

**and, bizarrely enough, Imprinting with her couldn't be particularly good for her nerves, **

"Stop talking about it…" Aphrodite grumbled.

"Not talkin' about doesn't change a single thing," Stevie Rae frowned.

I was about to speak up before Aphrodite could respond with something totally mean that might actually hurt Stevie Rae, but Future Aphrodite beat me to it.

"Stop it," She only spoke two words, but there must be something in her tone because Aphrodite actually did deflate a little.

"Well isn't this interesting," Shaunee muttered lowly to Erin, I was sitting close to them so only I could hear what was being said between the two.

"Hateful hag doesn't seem to hateful after all…Maybe the hag's actually got a point about the brain damage thing," Erin tried to muffle her giggles as Shaunee burst out in full blown laughter.

The others looked at them exasperatedly, except for their future selves who laughed along with them.

**but the last thing we needed was Vision Girl to turn into Drunk Vision Girl.**

**Darius****nodded thoughtfully. "Kalona is the ancient one, but that doesn't explain what type of****being he is."**

**"Grandma said that the easiest way to describe him is to think of him as a fallen angel, an immortal being that walked the earth in ancient times. Seems there were a bunch of them that showed up in the mythology of many cultures, like ancient Greece and the Old Testament."**

"Wow, they're _real_?" Damien said in wonder.

"Not all of them, and not in any forms that we'll recognise since fiction has a habit of changing over time. But yeah, some of them are," Future Damien said.

**"Yeah, on vacation from heaven or whatever, they decided women were hot, and so they mated with them," Aphrodite said, slurring her words a little. "Mated-that's an uptight way to say that they fu-"**

**"Thanks, Aphrodite. I'll take it from there," I said.**

The twins dissolved into louder giggles, and I have to say, Drunk Aphrodite did seem a little amusing.

**I was glad she had stopped her silent pouting, but wasn't so sure that her drunken sarcasm was much better. Wordlessly Damien handed me a sandwich and nodded at Aphrodite. I passed the sandwich to Aphrodite telling her, "Eat something." **

**Then I took up the thread of the story. "So Kalona started getting with Cherokee women and became bizarrely addicted to sex—**

"Sounds like a bad plot for a porn," Shaunee commented.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Aphrodite sneered.

"What was that hateful—

"—ok, guys. Can we read a chapter without getting into a fight please?" I interrupted, feeling a headache coming on.

Future Me looked a little sympathetic, "Just ignore them, you can't play peace-keeper all the time."

**The women rejected him and he started raping them and enslaving the men of the tribe. A group of Wise Women called Ghigua made a maiden out of the earth to trap him."**

**"Huh?" Stevie Rae said. "You mean like a dirt doll?"**

**"Yeah, only an attractive one. Each of the women gave the doll a particular gift, then they breathed life into her and named her A-ya. Kalona wanted A-ya, and she ran from him, leading him to a cave deep in the ground. He followed her into the cave, even though he usually avoided anything that was underground, and that's where they managed to trap him."**

"Wait, A-ya? That's what the Kalona guy called me in that dream," I said in surprise.

"Yeah…When can he get it into his head, I'm not Aya!" Future Me looked kinda pissed.

"**That is why you brought us here, into these tunnels," Darius said.**

**I nodded.**

**"So we are to think of Kalona as a dangerous immortal and the Raven Mockers as his servants. Who is the other creature mentioned in the prophecy and also by Damien, a Queen Tsi Sgili?" Darius said.**

**"According to Grandma, the Tsi Sgili are really awful Cherokee witches. Don't think cool Wiccans or Priestesses. They're not good at all, but more like demons, really, except that they are mortal and known for their psychic abilities, especially the ability to kill with their minds," I said. "Neferet is the queen the prophecy was talking about."**

So not only is my mentor become an evil murderer that's about to start a human/vampyre war, she's also a demonic witch with the ability to kill with her mind. As I said before, Ah Hell.

"She's really gone off the deep end…" Aphrodite muttered.

"Worst understatement of the century," Erin commented looking a little freaked out.

"You're telling me Twin, what kind of whacko can kill with their mind?" Shaunee said.

**"But Neferet announced to the House of Night that Kalona is Erebus on earth, and her consort, as if she had become the literal incarnation of Nyx," Darius said slowly, as if he was reasoning through it aloud.**

Future Me looked beyond pissed at that, "Nyx incarnate my ass…She's as far from Nyx as possible."

**"She's lying. Really, she's turned from Nyx," I said. "I've known it for a while, but acting openly against her has been pretty close to impossible. I mean, look what happened tonight. Everyone saw Stevie Rae and the red fledglings and they didn't turn on her. Except for Shekinah, they barely even blinked even after she ordered Stark to shoot."**

I winced, not wanting to be reminded that my best friend had an arrow through the chest.

**"Which is why she got Stark transferred from the Chicago House of Night to Tulsa," Damien said. When just about everyone gave him confused looks, he explained. "Stark is James Stark, the fledgling who won the gold medal at the Summer Games for archery. Neferet wanted him here so she could use him to shoot Stevie Rae."**

"Oh, that James Stark. Why would he shoot Stevie Rae though?" Damien wondered.

"Neferet turned him into a red fledgling and he does whatever she says," Future Me said, though she looked like she wanted to say something else.

**"Makes sense," Aphrodite said. "We already know Neferet has something to do with fledglings un-dying. Obviously she wanted to use him, and her plan worked because he's definitely undead and under her control." She looked pleased at her powers of deduction and upended the bottle of wine for another long drink.**

**"Guess I'm just lucky his aim wasn't so good now that he died and then came back," Stevie Rae said. **

**"That's not it." My mouth spoke before I could shut myself up. "He missed your heart on purpose."**

**"What do ya mean?" Stevie Rae asked.**

**"Before Stark died, he told me about his gift from Nyx. He never misses. He can't. He always hits the mark he aims at."**

"Huh, does that count as cheating if he wins all those archery competitions? Since ya know, he can't miss," Stevie Rae asked Damien.

Damien shrugged, "I don't know, I don't think there's anything in the rule book about gifts from Nyx."

**"Then if he missed killing Stevie Rae on purpose, that must mean he's not totally under****Neferet's influence," Damien said.**

**"He did say your name," Erik said. His piercing blue eyes seemed to see deep inside me. "I remember that distinctly. Before he shot Stevie Rae he definitely recognized you. He even said he'd come back to you."**

Aw hell…Not another guy…

"Uh Zoey, how many boyfriends do you have?" Aphrodite interjected, but she didn't sound hateful, just curious.

"Right now, hopefully just one…" I muttered thinking about Erik, but that just reminded me that Erik was no longer with me in the future.

**"I was with him when he died," I said, returning Erik's questioning gaze and trying not to look as guilty as I felt for being attracted to yet another guy besides him. **

**"Right before he died I told Stark that fledglings at our House of Night were coming back from the dead. That's what he was talking about."**

**"Well, there was obviously a connection between the two of you," Darius said. "And it probably saved Stevie Rae's life."**

**"But Stark definitely wasn't himself," I said, looking away from Erik. It had just been a few days ago that I'd kissed Stark and he'd died in my arms, but it seemed like forever had passed.**

Why, why, why must this be in my perspective? Idly, I wondered what gods or goddesses that I managed to piss off in a past life.

**"He was obviously under Neferet's influence, even if he was trying to resist her."**

**"Yeah, it's like she put a spell on him or something," Jack said.**

**"Hang on, that reminds me," Damien said. "I definitely noticed how almost everyone acted awestruck and even a little disoriented when Kalona appeared."**

**Venus snorted, sounding very much like Aphrodite at her most sarcastic (and least attractive).**

Everyone snickered at that, except Aphrodite, who glared at the book in mutiny.

**"Everyone except us." She made a gesture that took in all of the red fledglings. "We knew he was evil and totally full of bullshit from the second we saw him."**

**"How?" I asked abruptly. "How did you guys know? All the other fledglings, well, except us, actually fell to their knees at the sight of him. Even the Sons of Erebus warriors didn't move against him." I'd felt drawn to him, too, but I didn't want to admit that in front of Venus.**

"Typical, you're all about appearances aren't you?" Aphrodite sneered.

"Like you're one to talk hag from hell—' Erin began.

"—The only thing more superficial that you is—

"That's enough guys," Future Me said, "Stop fighting, please?"

"Hey, she's the one that insulted you first," Erin said.

"Yeah, we're just defending your honour," Shaunee said innocently.

Future Twins guffawed loudly.

"Ok seriously, no more talking from all three of you," I indicated to Aphrodite and the Twins of my time.

**Venus shrugged. "It was just obvious. Yeah, he was hot and all, but come on! He exploded from the ground after Stevie Rae bled all over it."**

**I watched her closely, thinking that maybe the reason she recognized Kalona's evil was that she was too darn familiar with evil.**

Both Aphrodite's burst out in full blown laughter. I stared at her stunned; I haven't seen her laugh except for the fake and mean chuckles that she and her minions Enyo, Deino and Pemphredo make when they torment some poor fledgling.

"Venus…evil…" But she couldn't say anymore than that before dissolving in uncharacteristically cheerful laughter.

"God Zoey, if I had any idea of what you were thinking at that point…" Future Aphrodite seems to have calmed down somewhat and decided to embarrass future me who was bright red.

**"Look, he had wings. That ain't right," Kramisha added, fragmenting my attention. "My mama told me don't trust no white boy, even a pretty one. I'm thinkin' a pretty white boy with wings explodin' up from the ground in a mess of blood and ugly-ass bird things is double trouble."**

"I like her," Shaunee said.

"Should I be worried Twin?" Erin asked jokingly.

"As if, you'd always be my Twin, Twin," Shaunee said.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, "Cut it with the mush brain-sharers."

"Hey! Stop calling us that, I'll have you know, we don't share a brain," Shaunee glared at her.

"Yeah, we share a soul," Erin said.

Wait…What? I thought that their Twinness was just them being freakishly similar.

"Did you guys just say you shared a soul?" I asked.

The Future Twins looked surprised.

"Yeah, don't you guys know?" Future Erin asked.

"I could've sworn we told you guys…" Future Shaunee said.

"Nope, this is the first I've heard of it," Future Damien said.

"Same here," Future Stevie Rae said, "Wow, so you guys are Soul Twins?"

"Isn't that similar to imprinting? Man, with all the grief you two gave me…hypocrites…" Future Aphrodite muttered.

"No it's not the same as imprinting. For one thing, we can't feel each other's emotions—only thoughts," Erin explained.

"Yeah, and secondly, Soul Twins, unlike Imprinting, isn't sexual," Shaunee finished.

Don't even get me started on what happened next, both Aphrodite's and both Stevie Rae's were caught up in a full-blown argument with both future and present Twins about whether or not Imprinting has to be sexual. Yes, even Stevie Rae, sweet, quiet Stevie Rae was arguing….

"Alright guys! Enough!" Future Me yelled to be heard in the mess, and as if to punctuate it, a burst of fire erupted in the air.

"Whoa..Ok, calm down Z…" Future Damien said, "Now, you guys can debate about it for the rest of your lives and it'll solve nothing. There are many books on the subject, and I'll tell you guys right now that no one has managed to come up with answer to that. Now, let's just finish reading this chapter..."

**"She has a point," said Jack, obviously forgetting he was a pretty white boy.**

**"I have to share something," Damien said. We managed to pull our attention from Kramisha to him. **

**"If I hadn't been in the middle of a fully cast circle, surrounded by you guys with Aphrodite yelling at us to stay together and get out of there, I might have fallen to my knees, too."**

**I felt a prickle of unease. "What about you guys?" I asked the Twins.**

**"He was hot," Shaunee said.**

**"Majorly," Erin said. She looked at Shaunee. Her Twin nodded, so she continued, "He would've gotten to us, too. If Aphrodite hadn't been shrieking unattractively at us to keep the circle together, we'd still be back there in the middle of that mess." **

**"Which would not be good," Shaunee said.**

"I save your asses and you're still ungrateful…" Future Aphrodite muttered.

**"That's all I'm sayin'," Kramisha added.**

**"Again I save members of the nerd herd," Aphrodite slurred.**

**"Just eat your sandwich," I told her. **

**Then I turned to Erik. "How about you? Did he make you want to...?" I trailed off, not sure how to put it.**

**"Stay and worship him?" Erik inserted, and I nodded. "Well, I did feel his power. But, remember, I already knew something was up with Neferet. If she was into him, I figured I didn't want anything to do with him. So I just kept myself focused on other things."**

**Our eyes met and held. Of course Erik had known it wasn't all good with Neferet, because he'd witnessed me confronting her. Plus, by then he'd realized I'd only cheated on him and been with the Vamp Poet Laureate, Loren Blake, because Neferet had set him up to seduce me and isolate me from my friends.**

Future Me groaned, "I so did not need to be reminded to that…."

**"So the red fledglings aren't affected by Kalona like regular fledglings are," Darius was saying.**

**"Although it seems regular fledglings can control the effect he has on them if they have to. And what Erik is describing, coupled with my reaction to him, tells me that perhaps vampyres are less susceptible to him than fledglings." He paused and looked at Jack. "Did you want to stay and worship Kalona?"**

**Jack shook his head. "Nope. But I didn't really look at him that much. I mean, I was real worried about Stevie Rae, and then I was just thinking about staying with Damien. Plus, Duchess was upset about S-T-A-R-K." He spelled the name while he petted Duchess. "And I had to take care of her."**

**"Why weren't you affected by him?" I asked Darius.**

**I saw his eyes flit to Aphrodite, who was tipsily nibbling on a sandwich.**

**"I had other things on my mind." He paused. "Although I did feel his draw. And remember I'm in a slightly different position than my brother warriors. None of them have been as intimate with your group. When a Son of Erebus takes on an assignment of protection, as I did when I began escorting you and Aphrodite, it becomes a strong bond." He gave me a warm smile. "Often a**

**High Priestess is protected by the same group of warriors for her entire life. It is no accident that we are named after our Goddess's faithful consort, Erebus." I smiled back at him and hoped that Aphrodite wouldn't be a butt and break his honourable heart.**

"Hey!" Aphrodite huffed indignantly.

**"What do you think is happening up there right now?" Jack asked suddenly.**

**Everyone looked at the curved ceiling of the little tunnel room, and I knew I wasn't the only one glad of the thickness of the earth between us and "up there."**

**"I don't know," I said, using the truthful answer instead of something meaningless like I'm sure everything's going to be okay. I thought hard, choosing my words carefully. "We know that an ancient immortal has broken free of the earth's imprisonment. We know that he brings with him creatures that are like demons, and that the last time he walked the earth he raped women and made men his slaves. We know that our High Priestess and maybe even what's left of the House of Night have, well, for lack of a better description, gone over to the Dark Side."**

"Things can't get any more depressing than that…" I muttered.

"Oh trust me, it can," Future Aphrodite said.

Future Me gave her a hard look.

"What? Don't look at me like that, you know it's true," She defended herself.

Ah hell, even Aphrodite thinks it's bad…

**Into the silent pause that followed my words Erik said, "A Star Wars analogy always works."**

**I grinned at him, then sobered as I continued. "What we don't know is how much damage Kalona and the Raven Mockers have done in the community. Erik said there was some kind of electrical storm going on along with the rain and ice, but that might not have been caused by supernatural means. This is Oklahoma, and the weather can be totally bizarre." **

**"Oooooooklahoma! Home of dustnadoes and ice storms that kick ass," Aphrodite said.**

**I stifled a sigh and ignored Imprinted Drunk Vision Girl. **

"Imprinted Drunk Vision Girl?" Future Aphrodite growled.

"Um…I sorta got creative?" Future Me shrugged sheepishly, "Ah come on, lighten up Aphro.."

I coughed, _what _had I just called Aphrodite?

"Hey! I didn't even give you permission to call me that when you were _drunk_, so what makes you think you can say it when you're sober?" Future Aphrodite glared at Future Me.

"Drunk? Zoey? Since when did you drink?" Stevie Rae asked me.

"I don't, I hate drinking…" I said truthfully, it was the reason that Heath and I had so many problems before I was Marked and had to leave him.

"I didn't actually drink any alcohol…not directly anyway…long story," Future Me said noticing our expressions that probably read 'WTF?'

**"But then again, on the `what we do know' side is the fact that we're pretty safe down here. We have food and shelter and whatnot." At least I hoped we were okay down here. I patted the bed I was sitting on, which really did have some cute light green linens on it. **

**"Hey, speaking of the `and whatnot.' How did you guys get this stuff down here?" I asked Stevie Rae. "Not that I'm trying to be mean, but this**

**bed and your table and fridges and other things are a serious improvement over the dirty rags and other grossness I saw down here a month or so ago."**

**She gave me her cute Stevie Rae smile and said, "That's mostly thanks to Aphrodite."**

**"Aphrodite?" I asked, lifting my brows and staring at her along with everyone else.**

Aphrodite smirked, "Three words: Gold Credit Card."

Ah, that really did explain it, Aphrodite was filthy rich, but she really didn't have to flaunt it.

"Hey Twin, you reckon she'll notice if we spend a couple of thousand dollars?" Shaunee whispered conspiratorially to Erin.

"Probably not, I could use with a new laptop," Erin replied.

"Soul-sharers, if you think I'd let your paws anywhere _near _my Credit Card, you are delusional," Aphrodite retorted.

**"What can I say? I've become the poster child for do-gooders. Thank god I'm attractive," Aphrodite said and then belched like a guy. "Oops, scusa," she slurred.**

Both Aphrodite's made a face.

"Remind me to never get that drunk again…" Future Aphrodite said.

"Remind me to never get that drunk _ever_," Aphrodite said.

**"Scusa?" Jack said.**

**"Italian, dork," Aphrodite said. "Broaden your gay horizons."**

**"So what does Aphrodite have to do with the stuff you have down here?" I interrupted what was sure to become some serious bickering.**

**"She bought this stuff. Actually, it was her idea," Stevie Rae said.**

**"Scusa?" I said, not even trying to stifle my grin.**

Future Aphrodite glared at future Me, "You know, I don't actually remember this night very well, but now that I do, I think I need to kill a few people…."

**"I stayed down here for two days. Did you expect me to live in a hovel? Not hardly. Have credit cards, will decorate. I think that's on my family crest along with a very dry martini," she said.**

**"There's a Pottery Barn in Utica Square right down the street. They deliver. So does Home Depot, which is also not far from here, although I wasn't aware of that until one of the red freaks enlightened me because I do not shop at appliance stores."**

**"They're not freaks," Stevie Rae said.**

**"Oh, bite me," Aphrodite said.**

"Not the best you could've come up with at that point in time," Future me added helpfully as Future Aphrodite glared at her.

**"She already has," Venus said.**

**Aphrodite glared woozily in her direction, but before she could get out a drunken retort, the kid called Dallas said, "I knew the Home Depot was there." My friends and I looked at him. He shrugged. "I'm good at building things."**

**"Home Depot and Pottery Barn delivered down here?" Erik said.**

**"Well, not technically," Stevie Rae said. "But they do deliver to the Tribune Lofts which are practically next door. And with a little, uh, friendly persuasion they brought the stuff here and then totally forgot once they left. So, ta-da! New stuff."**

**"I still don't understand. How could the humans have been persuaded to come down here?" Darius said.**

**I sighed. "Something you should know about red vampyres-"**

**"And red fledglings, too, only it's not quite as strong with them," Stevie Rae interrupted me.**

**"And red fledglings," I corrected. "They have a mind-control thing they can do with humans."**

**"That sounds a lot meaner than it is," Stevie Rae assured Darius quickly. "I just tweaked the delivery guys' memories. I didn't mind-control them. We don't go in for using our powers to be all hateful and stuff." She gave the group of red fledglings a look. "Right?" **

**The group muttered "Right," but I noticed Venus didn't say anything, and Kramisha glanced around the room guiltily.**

"Man Z, you're really paranoid. Kramisha just 'borrowed' some books and Venus is…well Venus." Future Stevie Rae explained.

"Yeah, I know _now_, but well, after everything that happened, I was kinda jumpy you know," Future Me said.

**"They can control the minds of humans. They cannot bear direct sunlight. Their powers of****recovery are excellent. They need to commune with the earth to feel truly comfortable," Darius****said. "Am I leaving anything else out?"**

**"Yeah," Aphrodite said. "They bite."**


End file.
